I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. I 



*6 



$ _ $ 

S UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. | 



PRACTICAL TREATISE 



CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAE CANE, 



THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR 



THOMAS KERR, 

PLANTER, ANTIGUA. 



LONDON: 
PUBLISHED BY JOHN J. GRIFFIN & COMPANY, 

53 BAKER-STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE ; 

AND RICHARD GRIFFIN & CO., GLASGOW. 
1851. 



BELL AND BAIN, PRINTERS, GLASGOW. 



I 

\ 
V 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The present Condition of the West India Colonies, and the Events 
which have led to it, . 

PART I. 

ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR CANE. 

Chapter I. —A Description of the Methods of Cultivation usually 
practised in the West Indies, 

Chapter II.— On the Necessity of adopting a System of Cultiva- 
tion and Manufacture based on a Knowledge of the Nature of 
the Plant and its Product, with a short description of the 
Anatomy and Physiology of the Cane, 

Chapter III.— The Method of Cultivation best adapted to the 
West Indies, deduced from the results of successful Practice in 
various Islands— Refutation of the Arguments advanced against 
it by the Advocates of the Expensive and Inefficient System 
usually practised, 

Chapter IV.— On the Planting of Canes— various Methods of 
Setting the Plants— advantages of Wide Planting, . 

Chapter V.— Importance of returning the Megass to the Soil— 
the injurious Effects of severe Drought obviated by covering the 
Soil— Ratooning— proper Season for Planting, 

Chapter VX —On Stock and Implements of Agriculture, . 

Chapter VII. — Recapitulation — Necessity of Reform in the 
Methods employed for the production of Sugar— Importance of 
a wise Legislation with regard to the welfare of the West Indian 
Colonies— Their importance as Sugar producing Countries, 



IV CONTEXTS. 

PART II. 

OX THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 

Chapter I. — Losses sustained by imperfect Manufacture — Com- 
position of the Cane and its Juice — State in which Sugar exists 
in' the Cane, 63 

Chapter II. — Method of extracting the largest possible amount of 
Juice from the Cane — Varieties of Cane Mills — Loss occasioned 
by imperfect Machinery — Advantages of Steam Power for Cane 
Mills— Directions for the Prevention of Acidity and Viscous 



Chapter III Proper Method of cutting Canes — Impurities of 

Cane- Juice described — Soluble Salts— Azotised Compounds — 
Non-Azotised Vegetable Proximate Principles — Matiere Deli- 
quescente of Hervey — Impurities which can be removed Me- 
chanically, 86 

Chapter IV. — Improvements arising from the Efforts to render 
the Production of Sugar from Beet-Root profitable — Dr. 
Mitchell's Experiments on Heating Canes to prevent the de- 
velopment of the Fermentative Action in the Juice after expres- 
sion, ... .96 

Chapter V. — Simple Methods of Defecating Cane- Juice — Method 
of Defecation without Animal Charcoal — Method of using Animal 
Charcoal — Varieties of Charcoal Filters, .... 102 

Chapter VI. — Evaporation of the Defecated Juice — Necessity of 
rapid Evaporation, and Description of appropriate Evaporating 
Vessels — Concentration of Syrup at a low Temperature — 
Vacuum Pan — Gaddesden's Pan, 113 

Chapter VII. — Crystallization and Curing of Sugar — Recapitula- 
tion and Remarks, . . .122 

Chapter VIII.— Description of the Method of Sugar-Making 
usually practised in the West Indies — Losses sustained by its 
Operation — Concluding Remarks, .129 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE WEST INDIA COLONIES, 
AND THE EVENTS WHICH HAVE LED TO IT. 

The present deplorable condition of the British Colonies 
in the West Indies, is a subject of much importance to the 
nation. It is not only the planters, and the persons 
actually engaged in the West India trade, who will be 
sufferers by the continuance of this state of things, because, 
if our Colonies continue to decay, in the same ratio, as they 
have done for the last three years, till the time arrives for 
the equalization of duties, there is every prospect of the 
trade being monopolized by the Slave-holding States, in 
which case the consumer will be in a worse position than 
before the change in the sugar duties, unless means be 
devised to rescue our Colonies from their embarrassed and 
ruinous position. 

The present abundance of sugar, and its moderate 
price, appears so satisfactory to those who are not imme- 

B 



2 INTRODUCTION. 

diately connected with its production, that little thought 
is bestowed on the subject, and questions concerning the 
sources of future supply attract little attention. 

Various methods have been proposed for rescuing the 
sugar-producing Colonies, and more particularly the West 
Indies, from the ruinous condition into which they have 
fallen. Many partially excellent and practicable plans 
have been suggested, and projects the most wild and 
fanciful have been proposed. But, while much has been 
said and written discursively, there is a want of informa- 
tion of a general and connected nature, as to what is the 
actual condition of the plantations — what has been the 
system of production usually adopted — who are the persons 
by whom this system is directed and carried out — what 
are the successive steps which have led to the present 
universal prostration and insolvency — and what would be 
the most advisable course, under these circumstances, for 
the Planters to pursue, in order to render available to the 
utmost, the means they possess. This is of much greater 
importance than proposals of remedies which are difficult 
of attainment, involving a vast outlay of national or 
private capital, and the success of which are at best 
problematical. 

It is my purpose, in the following pages, to show, that 
the planters possess the means, if properly applied, of 
aiding themselves to a much greater extent than is gener- 
ally practised ; and that the resources of the Colonies are not 
sufficiently developed, owing to the imperfect methods of 

\ 



INTRODUCTION, 



3 



Cultivation and Manufacture which have hitherto been in 
use, and which long custom, the apathy engendered by 
habits of routine, and the fear of failure in the case of 
attempting extensive reforms, cause to be still almost 
universally persisted in. 

Very few persons agree as to what is the best course to 
be adopted by the Colonists. A very large portion of that 
body are of opinion, that nothing which they are of them- 
selves able to effect, would be sufficient to save them from 
utter ruin, so long as the present policy of Government is 
persisted in, and the productions of slave-labour admitted 
to compete with them on equal terms. And this accounts, 
in some measure, for the apathy and want of exertion 
which has unfortunately so generally prevailed. The greater 
number — relying entirely on the undoubted justness of 
their claim to the assistance of Government, and using all 
their efforts to obtain this, bv endeavouring to enlist the 
sympathies of the nation in their behalf, and attempting, 
by petitions and remonstrances, to avert the evil they feared, 
— did not generally take in time, those decisive measures, 
which, though insufficient to prevent much embarrassment 
and loss, could alone be successful in preserving them 
from ruin. 

Another party, who think that the principal difficulty 
arises, not so much from any fault or imperfection in the 
ancient methods of production, as from an inadequate 
supply of labourers, are of opinion, that the great remedy 
for their difficulties is to be brought about by immigra- 



4 



INTRODUCTION. 



tion, and are only divided in opinion as to the race who 
are best suited for the climate and requirements of the 
Colonies. Thus we have advocates for European labourers.- 
for Kroonien, Hindoos, Portuguese of Madeira ; and a late 
writer on the subject extols the Chinese above all others ; 
and thinks that an immediate importation of 250,000 
labourers from that empire would prove to be a universal 
panacea for all the evils that threaten or have befallen the 
West Indian Colonies, 

The experiment of immigration has been tried to £ 
certain extent, and I cannot think it has at all realized the 
expectations of those persons who have made the trial, 
The expense of it has been very great, and the benefits 
derived from it have been not at all commensurate. It may 
be objected, that the success of the scheme could not be 
fairly tested because tried on so very limited a scale ; but 
I think it a hazardous experiment to invest so much capital 
as would be required to carry out a measure, the success of 
which is doubtful. And, besides, we do not perceive that in 
those places where the native population is most abun- 
dant, as in Barbados, they have been much better off, 
than in those Colonies where labour has been comparatively 
scarce. There has been nearly as much complaint of 
distress and ruin from the Planters of that densely 
populated island, as from other Colonies much more thinly 
peopled. 

It is possible, that had more time elapsed between the 
enactment and the operation of the measures deter- 



INTRODUCTION. 



5 



mined on by Government, the Planters might have 
been able to adopt a system calculated gradually to 
counteract the ruinous effects of the policy alluded 
to; but the suddenness as well as the magnitude of 
the changes which have taken place, have been such as 
to paralyse their efforts; and the depreciation in the value 
of property within the last three years,* has deterred 
capitalists from venturing to make advances for the im- 
provements required, in consequence of the uncertain 
nature of the security. 

It is universally admitted, that the measure of slave 
emancipation was precipitated in a manner inconsistent 
with prudent legislation, although a matter which involved 
interests and issues of such unprecedented and unparalleled 
importance, that the greatest statesman of the period 
expressed feelings of embarrassment and anxiety in 
approaching a question of such magnitude; still, there 
is little doubt, that had its operation not been followed - 
by the more recent injurious fiscal enactments, the 
present unfortunate results would not have been brought 
about. 

* The value of property in some of these Colonies is reduced to such 
a ruinous degree, as in many instances to amount to nearly a. total loss ; 
and few purchasers can be found for such estates as are put up for sale, 
even at a most inadequate price. We have an instance of this in the 
case of some valuable contiguous estates in Demerara, being offered for 
sale for £14,000, the value of which, a few years ago, exceeded 
£100,000 ; and similar cases could be adduced which have occurred in 
the other Colonies. 



6 



INTRODUCTION. 



It is impossible to justify the various enactments which 
effect alterations on the sugar duties, and of which the 
Planters justly complain, as they are not only in direct con- 
tradiction to the avowed motives of the Government in 
abolishing slavery, but amount to a direct breach of the 
positive engagements entered into by them on that occasion. 

The abolition of slavery had in itself, comparatively, 
little influence m bringing about the unfortunate state of 
affairs which prevails, as was evinced by the fact, that 
property, in some of the Colonies, and particularly in 
Barbados, where I then was, maintained its highest value 
for some time after the period of emancipation; and 
there is abundant evidence, that well conducted estates 
in all the West Indian Colonies, continued to yield as 
large a return to their proprietors as at any former period, 
Estates were leased at even an extravagant rental, and 
large transfers of property were made without dread or 
hesitation. 

The cause of this temporary prosperity may be traced 
to the dependence placed by the Planters upon the promised 
assistance and protection of Government, w r hich they did 
not regard as a boon, but as an indisputable right— the 
just claim of a creditor for an admitted debt — because they 
had received only an instalment of the compensation to 
which Government had admitted they were entitled, being 
paid little over one third of the appraised value of their 
slaves, receiving only sixteen millions out of the forty-three 
millions, which was the valuation of the crown commit 



INTRODUCTION 



7 



sioners. With this admitted claim, the Colonists could 
not doubt, that in the event of no further remuneration in 
money being awarded to them, they would enjoy the 
operation of such fiscal enactments, as would at least be 
equal in value to their acknowledged claim. If it had 
been believed at that time, that the present course would 
ever be adopted, or that so sweeping and sudden a change 
would ever take place, the Colonists would not have been 
lulled into a state of false security, and the value of 
property would not have been kept up at a false standard. 
Many persons who are now ruined by having invested 
their capital in West Indian property, would never have 
embarked in a speculation w T hich would have been deemed 
too hazardous to be prudent, even at a much lower value : 
and those who had no alternative would have began gra- 
dually to take such steps, as circumstances rendered 
necessary, to reduce the cost of production by every 
contrivance which skill, sharpened by necessity, could 
suggest. 

The question of free trade generally, has been too much 
mixed and associated with that of the Colonies, and most 
persons seem to confound them with one another, and con- 
sider that the protectionist party in this country, and the 
West India body, are one and the same. There exists, 
however, a wide distinction. The latter demand not one 
particular policy or another ; they ask only for the fulfil- 
ment of the promises made to them, to which this country 
was solemnly pledged, and which they must obtain before 



8 



INTRODUCTION. 



they are on a footing with the proprietors of land in the 
mother country. 

In order to understand the exact nature of the claims of 
the Colonists, it is necessary to revert to the circumstances 
attending the passing of the act for the abolition of 
slavery. 

In the first place, the right to hold property in slaves 
must be considered as admitted. This is placed beyond 
doubt by the manner in which slavery originated in 
our West Indian possessions. We find, by reference 
to the laws of the period, that grants of land were 
given, on the express condition, that a certain number 
of slaves should be settled and maintained thereon, 
and these slaves were sold to the settlers by British 
subjects, under the authority of Government. Numerous 
subsequent acts recognised and confirmed the property 
thus created. 

The legal right to the possession of property in slaves, 
was therefore indisputable ; it was fully recognised by the 
State, in their directing an appraisement of their value, with 
a view to compensate the proprietors ; and it was finally 
determined to award them a limited grant of money, and to 
secure to them such advantages of a fiscal nature, as would 
equal in value their remaining claims. 

The feeling which originated the abolition of slavery, 
was creditable to the nation, and although the measure 
might have been perfected, in a greater degree, by a more 
wise and cautious legislation, there can be no doubt that 

\ 



INTRODUCTION. 







the Colonies would have continued to be prosperous, and 
that such gradual improvements would have taken place in 
their resources, and such an increase in the amount of their 
productions, as would have enabled them to supply sugar 
in sufficient quantities for any amount of consumption in 
this country, and that they would eventually have been 
able to compete with slave-holding states in such a manner 
as to ensure the extinction of slavery. 

It is impossible to deny, that the effect of competition is 
to cheapen production, and to stimulate those engaged in 
it, to the utmost energy, in developing and economizing 
their resources, and in effecting and adopting such 
improvements as necessity suggests. But if one party pos- 
sesses advantages which are placed beyond the reach of the 
other, it is useless to commence a struggle, the evil result 
of which may be foreseen. But this view of the case seems 
to have been disregarded by those who legislated for the 
Colonies, while effecting the changes in question. They 
have evidently been influenced by the idea, that compe- 
tition with foreigners would excite industry, and increase 
production, and they appear entirely to have overlooked 
the fact, that the competition is unequal, and can only, 
therefore, be productive of benefit to those possessing the 
greatest advantages; while its effect is to paralyse the 
industry of the less favoured party, and, as has been 
rendered apparent, by destroying their credit, to reduce 
them to a state of ruinous inaction, and prevent them from 
adopting many of the improved modes of manufacture, of 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

which their more favoured rivals are eagerly availing 
themselves, and thus adding to the advantages they already 
possess. 

It is abundantly evident, then, that the principles of 
free trade cannot be with justice applied to the West 
Indian Colonies in their present condition, and that the 
claims of the Colonists are based upon the broad prin- 
ciples of equity and national good faith, and are altogether 
irrespective of legislative policy. 

The Government have an undoubted right to legislate in 
accordance with the wish of the majority of the English 
people, and that right they exercised in abolishing slavery ; 
but they have no right to confiscate property. If it is 
necessary to destroy the property of individuals for the 
public good, it is also necessary to compensate them for the 
injury sustained, and, therefore, in removing the advan- 
tages of a fiscal nature, which were considerd as a por- 
tion of the compensation to the West India proprietors, it 
is but just that they should have an equivalent pecuniary 
remuneration. When this is done, it is time enough to 
talk about the free trade question, as affecting the Colo- 
nies with the empire generally, and with which the present 
demands of the West India proprietors have nothing to do. 
If the duty on foreign sugar was kept up in their favour, 
they would not be embarrassed y if, that being removed, an 
adequate pecuniary compensation was made, they would be 
in a position, by the investment of it in stock and 
machinery, to render themselves independent of any reduc- 



INTRODUCTION. 



11 



tion in the value of sugar caused by equalization of duties, 
by reducing the cost of production in the same ratio, and 
increasing the value of the product by improved methods 
of manufacture.* 

It cannot be denied, however, that the Planters have 
not in general availed themselves of such improvements as 
were within then reach. Some spirited and intelligent 
individuals, in almost every Colony, have seen the necessity 
of reforming the old systems of Cultivation and Manufac- 
ture, and their efforts have, in most instances, been as 
successful as coidd be expected, under the circumstances of 
their struggling, for the most part, single-handed, unsup- 
ported by adequate means, and having to contend against 
deeply-rooted and widely-diffused prejudices. And I have 
no doubt, that had there been more combination in the 
march of improvement, and more attention paid generally 
to the adaptation of the means they actually possess, dark 
as are the prospects of the West Indians, they would not 

* An aggravation of the injury complained of by the Colonists, is its 
sudden and unexpected operation. Had any warning of such intention 
been given at the time of slave emancipation, measures might have been 
taken, and preparations made, to meet the difficulty when it arrived. 
And as the only chance of competition with the productions of slave- 
labour consisted in a complete change of the whole system of Culti- 
vation and Manufacture which had hitherto been practised, and 
with which the persons engaged in it were alone conversant : and when 
it is known how extremely difficult it is to effect such changes in routine 
systems, even where the urgent necessity is evident, the glaring 
injustice of such aggravated wrong is so apparent as to require no 
comment. 



12 



INTRODUCTION. 



be reduced to the utterly ruinous condition in which they 
are placed at present. 

The efforts of Lord Elgin, and others of the Colonial 
governors, in promoting the formation of Agricultural 
Societies, and otherwise encouraging the extension of 
knowledge and improvement among the Planters, are 
deserving of great praise; and in some of the Colonies 
much progress has been made in effecting improvements, 
and bringing to aid such implements of husbandry as tend 
to reduce the necessity for manual labour, and such improved 
methods of manufacture, as to ensure a more valuable 
product. 

It is doubtless a subject of much wonder, that where it 
has been shown by examples of this nature, how much can 
be done to cheapen production, the general practice should 
be so little altered, and, with the exception of a limited 
number of spirited and intelligent individuals, the pro- 
portion of whom have varied much in the different Colo- 
nies, so little real progress should have been made. 

There is a consideration, however, which, I confess, has 
tended very materially to diminish my own astonishment 
at the fact. My experience has convinced me, that sufficient 
regard has not always been paid to the qualifications of the 
parties to whom the care of estates has been intrusted. I 
am far from insinuating any thing against the probity, or 
even the industry, of this class, but the fact is, something 
more than these qualities, valuable and important as they 
are, is needed to make a good Planter. The character of 



\ 



INTRODUCTION. 



13 



sugar cultivation has been mistaken. It is not, as has 
been too commonly supposed, a mere mechanical process^ 
but it is an art, demanding; for its due development, more 
than ordinary sagacity and intelligence. Formerly, indeed, 
estates were managed on principles which never even 
supposed the admissibility of change, or the possibility of 
improvement, and it is to be regretted that the same course 
still very generally prevails. For conducting such a 
system, no great talent was required — nay, if a manager 
wished to enjoy the good opinion and confidence of his 
employer, it was his interest studiously to avoid suggesting 
alterations, and make it his grand object implicitly to follow 
his instructions, without venturing to express an opinion 
on their expediency. 

The chief direction of West Indian property was vested 
in the Attornies or agents of the absentee proprietors, 
The most eminent and active of these had been selected 
from the most industrious of the managers, or from the 
relatives of proprietors who might be resident in the Colo- 
nies, and were for the most part admirably adapted, by 
their energy of character, to carry on the routine system 
which prevailed. But, being for the most part deeply 
prejudiced in favour of the existing methods, (a feeling 
which a long course of routine seldom fails to establish., 
and which has been exemplified as much in the case of 
many of the old class of English farmers, as in that of the 
Planter,) and satisfied that no change of system was 
required, or at least, not feeling that they would be justified 



INTRODUCTION. 



in attempting any, they were not calculated to make any 
advance towards a more rational and economical method 
of management. Hence, when a change of circumstances 
rendered all their efforts unprofitable, they did not take 
those steps which the exigencies of the times demanded, 
to avert the ruin which a persistence in the old and imper- 
fect practice threatened to accomplish. In fact, the change 
paralysed them. All that has been done by most of them, 
has been, to practise economy on a small scale, by reduc- 
ing the salaries of subordinates, and battling with the 
merchant for reduced freight, and with the labourer for 
lower wages, not being able to understand the more com- 
prehensive economy which is required. 

I speak, of course, merely of what has fallen under my 
own observation, but I perceive that a late writer, in 
speaking of the practice in Jamaica, after using even 
stronger language on the subject, remarks as follows : — 

" There is no communing with the overseer in regard to 
the welfare of the estate — no exchange of advice betwixt 
overseer and attorney, or at least none which merits the 
title. In fact, the whole system is quite opposed to such 
confidence and consideration. The attorney employs an 
overseer who will manage the property precisely as he 
directs, and who will bend to him in all things. The 
overseer, on the other hand, seeks to conciliate the good- 
will, and secure the countenance, of his employer, the 
attorney — the only employer whom he knows, by doing 
all in his power to please him. He knows, that at any 



INTRODUCTION. 



15 



moment, with or without a reason, the attorney may dis- 
charge him. Is it to be wondered at, therefore, that he is 
cautious of saying or doing ought offensive, when it could 
only lead to his own loss of employment, and attendant 
injury ? Of course, it will be understood that there are 
many attorneys who are exceptions to the above rule, which, 
I am very sorry to say, however, is still but too general. 
Nor do I intend to assert that a very strict supervision is 
not necessary. On the contrary, I consider a proprietor or 
agent cannot exercise too much vigilance, or interfere too 
often, when he finds things going wrong on an estate. 
But I think that an overseer should be brought to identify 
himself with the property of which he is in charge — that 
he should regard it as his comfortable and undoubted 
home, which he feels is secured to him by the good feeling 
and interest of the proprietor or agent. Were such a 
feeling called into being, and carefully fostered, many very 
great benefits would result. For instance, take an intelli- 
gent and right-minded man, of education and experience, 
and place him in charge of an estate, giving him an 
honest account of its pecuniary position, a clear idea of 
what is expected from him, and a genuine assurance of con- 
fidence, security, and indulgent consideration, and I feel 
convinced that he would study economy in the general 
management of the estate, and employ the energies of his 
mind in compassing its gradual improvement, instead of 
speculating on the advent of a successor. At present, the 
great aim of an overseer is, to keep his situation, which is 



16 



INTRODUCTION. 



generally of so insecure a tenure,, that he thinks it a folly 
to enter into calculations which require time to carry out. 
It is a most injurious system, and should at all risks be 
altered, for without feeling a heart-in-hand kind of interest 
in the estate that he manages, the overseer can never act 
the part he oughts — Wrai/s Practical Sugar Planter, 
page 62. 




PART FIRST. 

ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR CANE. 



CHAPTER I. 

A DESCRIPTION OF THE METHODS OF CULTIVATION USUALLY 
PRACTISED IN THE WEST INDIES. 

The old system of cane cultivation is too well known to 
need description, but for the sake of comparison, I shall 
briefly advert to it. 

The land under cultivation was generally divided into 
three or more nearly equal portions, according to the 
desire of the manager, to ratoon once, or oftener; and 
soon after the termination of the sugar making season, the 
preparation of the portion of land to be planted in the 
beginning of the succeeding year w T as commenced, by 
putting a gang of negroes with hoes, to break up the sur- 
face. This was generally done in a very superficial man- 
ner, as the labourer naturally exerted all his ingenuity to 

give his work the appearance of being well performed, 

c 



iS 



CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR CANE. 



with as little exertion on his part as possible. The 
size of the cane-hole was defined, by measuring squares of 
three, three and a-half, or four feet, according to the fancy 
of the Planter, with a line, and marking off the spaces 
with small sticks ; but generally, the shape of the old cane- 
hole was sufficient to direct the labourers in forming the 
new one, which was accomplished by digging about 
sixteen or twenty inches square out of the centre of each 
space, leaving a hard broad border of undisturbed earth, 
surrounding the hole formed. The earth removed by the 
operation being arranged on the one side of the hole, 
formed banks which presented parallel lines of newly turned 
earth, resting on a hard and unbroken base, and between 
these lines were the newly formed holes, separated from 
each other by a bar of undisturbed soil, called the " dis- 
tance" or " cross-hole bank," which was covered with loose 
soil, by farther deepening the cane-hole at a subsequent 
operation, called " cross-holing." This operation entirely 
removed the surface soil from the hole, so that the hard 
unbroken subsoil was exposed at the bottom ; the surface 
of the field, when finished, presenting the appearance of a 
chess-board. 

Although the earth was but imperfectly broken up by this 
process, it was a very laborious one, particularly in stiff 
soils, and where the roots of the recently cut canes inter- 
laced the earth in all directions. In wet weather, also, the 
earth adhering to, and clogging the hoes in a very trouble- 
some manner, they required continual scraping, which con- 



\ 



PRESENT SYSTE3I OF CULTIVATION. 



19 



sunied considerable time, and in dry weather the ground 
was so exceedingly tough and hard, from never having 
been perfectly tilled, that very little progress could be 
made. In general each person would dig from fifty to one 
hundred cane-holes in a day, although I have seen much 
more pretended to be done by task-work, but in such 
cases very imperfectly, the earth being merely scratched 
into the form of the cane-hole. 

The manure, partly made up in pens in the fields, to 
which it was to be applied, and partly carted from the 
homestead, and deposited in the intervals between the 
fields, was usually distributed with baskets, and placed on 
the spaces left between the holes befors cross-holing, the 
mould from this last operation serving to cover the manure. 
Sometimes, however, it was thrown into the hole after 
cross-holing^ and lightly covered with earth, till the time 
approached for planting, when it was dug out and drawn 
on the bank, or by the side of it. 

It generally happened that only a portion of the manure 
for the crop was made up in time to be applied before the 
planting of the canes, indeed some Planters rather preferred 
its application during the growth of the plant, in which 
case it was carried in baskets and applied round the 
bunches of the growing canes, during temporary cessations, 
or after the close of the sugar making season. 

The earlier the operation of digging the cane-holes could 
be performed, the more creditable to the judgment and exer- 
tion of the Planter, although this depended, in some de- 



20 



CULTIVATION OE THE SUGAR CANE. 



gree, on the period of the crop being finished, on the time 
occupied in preparing land for planting provisions for the 
support of the slaves, or for sale, and, since the abolition 
of slavery, in a very great measure on the number of 
labourers who could be procured. 

From the completion of the operation of " holing/ 5 till 
the canes completely covered the surface, constant weeding 
was required, and large gangs were continually employed . 
No other method of weeding than hand-hoeing was pos- 
sible, from the peculiar formation of the angular holes 
and banks. In fact, the whole system, from the breaking 
up of the first clod of earth, to the rolling of the hogshead 
of sugar into the waggon, appeared to have been expressly 
contrived for employing the greatest possible amount of 
human labour. The large amount of capital, therefore, 
required for the purchase and support of slaves, or the 
hiring of free labourers, rendered sugar planting, except 
under peculiarly favourable circumstances, very far from 
being so remunerative as is generally supposed. In evi- 
dence of this, it will suffice to give the following extract 
from a work published in 1768, a period generally supposed 
to be the most flourishing in the page of the Planters 5 
history, and which is always referred to as the " palmy 
days 55 of the West Indies, &c. &c. 

The work to which I have alluded is entitled: — "A 
Short History of Barbadoes, from its settlement to the 
year 1767/ 5 and I quote a portion of it copied into the 
"Barbadoes Agricultural Reporter" of June, 1847. — 




PRESENT SYSTEM 01 CULTIVATION. 21 

w The plantations of Barbadoes, oppressed by taxes, im- 
poverished by mismanagement, and loaded by the great 
and necessary expenses of their management, yield not 
now the profits they formerly afforded, notwithstanding the 
high estimation Europeans may set upon West India 
estates, yet it is an indisputable fact, that the landed 
interest of Barbadoes, (that is, throughout the whole island. | 
does not clear, communibus annis, four per cent., estimating 
the principal at what land usually sells for. The destruc- 
tion of the woods of that island, though it renders the 
country more healthful, hath decreased the quantity of 
rain, and hath been thereby detrimental to the Planters. 
* * * To bear up against so many discouragements, 
the utmost skill ought to be exerted in adjusting the 
business of an estate, and though it is true that the want 
of seasonable weather is sufficient to baffle the greatest 
abilities of the Planter, yet it is equally true, that the 
failure of these estates proceeds very frequently from 
unskilful management, so that when some estates that are 
well attended to yield a very profitable income, others 
again, afford no profit. Indeed it may be said, with 
justice and propriety, that an estate as often fails from 
the unskilfulness of the proprietor, in not maintaining a 
full quantity of stock upon it, as from the unskilfulness of 
the steward, or manager. For the former, however, some 
reasonable excuses may be made, as the want of credit, (a 
circumstance always destructive to the good condition of a 
T\ est India Estate.) or the want of opportunity to purchase 



CULTIVATION OE THE SUGAR CANE. 



stock ; but for the latter, no just apology whatever can be 
offered. Thus, notwithstanding the uncertainty of profit, 
the unavoidable expense attending an estate is certain, and 
is inconceivably great. Suppose, for instance, an estate of 
only 250 acres ; to work this properly, must be maintained 
upon it, 170 negroes, 100 horned cattle, 12 horses, 40 
sheep, 3 tenants, or militia men, suppose with 3 in each 
family, who support themselves from the profits of the 
ground allowed them; a steward, or manager, whose 
annual salary may be from £100 to £150; an under 
steward, or driver, a distiller, and 2 apprentices, whose 
salaries together may be £45 per annum; add to 
these the salaries of a town agent and book-keeper at £15 
or £20 each, of an apothecary at £30 or £40, of a 
farrier at £15 or £20, the commissions of an English 
agent at 2\ per cent., freight of sugars, taxes, duties, 
repairs of buildings, and many incidental expenses; nor 
must we forget the maintenance of the proprietor and his 
family, with eight or ten servants. From these particulars 
may be learned the reasonableness of the above assertion — 
that the landed interest in general does not net 4 per cent, 
annually." 



CHAPTER II. 



ON THE NECESSITY OF ADOPTING A SYSTEM OF CULTIVATION AND 
MANUFACTURE BASED ON A KNOWLEDGE OF THE NATURE OF THE 
PLANT AND ITS PRODUCT, WITH A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE 
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE CANE- 

The two fundamental principles upon which all attempts 
at improvement must be based, are : — First, the necessity 
of reducing the cost of production to its lowest possible 
limit j and, second, the improvement of the quality of the 
product by a more rational and scientific method of manu- 
facture. These two propositions are intimately connected 
with each other, inasmuch as, by using improved methods 
of manufacture, not only is a finer and more valuable 
quality of sugar produced, but a much greater quantity is 
procured from the same amount of raw material. 

Before proceeding to notice the most economical method 
of cultivating the sugar cane, I shall give a short descrip- 
tion of the anatomy and physiology of the plant, and point 
out the peculiarities to be observed in its culture. 

The sugar cane, arundo saccharifera, is a plant of the 
most simple structure, being one of the graminiferous tribe 



24 



CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR CANE, 



of vegetables ; in other words, a gigantic grass. The form 
of its stem is cylindrical, and it varies in length from six 
to fifteen feet; it is usually from one and a-half to two 
inches in diameter, and it is divided into joints, the length 
of which vary from three to seven inches. Each joint is 
composed of a number of small hexagonal tubes, which lie 
parallel to each other and to the axis of the stem ; these 
have no communication with each other, and terminate at 
the spot where the joints are united, at which place they 
come into contact with a complete network of minute 
vessels. This vascular labyrinth seems designed both to 
preserve the communication with the cells in the next 
joint, to convey and elaborate the nutriment required by 
the germ or bud which is situate at each of these inter- 
sections, and by which the plant is propagated, and to 
communicate with the leaf which is produced simul- 
taneously with the joint, which it encircles and adheres to 
until it is matured, and by the agency of which the 
ligneous fibre, and the cellular and vascular tissues are 
formed. The points of junction between the joints are 
marked externally by a dark coloured narrow ring 
encircling the cane,, being the part to which the inferior 
termination of the leaf had been attached. This cincture 
is bordered by a row of small circular spots, which pro- 
duce radicles during germination, and at one portion of its 
circumference the embryo bud is situated. The position of 
this bud alternates in successive joints to exactly opposite 
sides of the stem. 



\ 



PHYSIOLOGY OF THE SUGAR CANE, 



25 



A transverse section of the cane shows the divided longi- 
tudinal tubes, presenting a cellular structure, and filled with 
a transparent fluid. Most of these cells contain a pure solu- 
tion of sugar, which varies in density with the age of the 
cane, and the circumstances affecting its growth. There 
are also sap-vessels containing in solution the elementary 
substances required for the growth of the plant. These 
lie parallel to, but have no communication with, the cells 
containing the sugar, and convey the circulating sap from 
the roots to the upper extremities of the plant. 

The whole of the surface of the stem is coated with a 
thin siliceous crust or glaze, on portions of which, par- 
ticularly near the union of the joints, and in some varieties 
of canes more than others, there is formed a small 
quantity of a kind of wax, known as cerosie or cerosine. 

It must be borne in mind that no uncrystailizable sugar, 
glucose, or melasses, pre-exists in the cane, the whole of 
the sugar being crystallizable, and of the variety known to 
the chemist as cane sugar. 

The process by which the sugar is elaborated and 
deposited in the cells of the plant, is one of those inscrut- 
able mysteries of nature which have hitherto baffled the 
researches of scientific men ; but its composition, and the 
purpose for which it exists in the cane, are clearly under- 
stood, being evidently intended to yield material for the 
progressive development of the plant during its growth, as 
when the cane is growing rapidly, its juice contains but 
little sugar, that substance being required as fast as it is 



26 



CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR CANE. 



secreted, but when the growth becomes slower as the plant 
matures, the juice increases in sweetness until it arrives at 
its maximum density. 

Cane sugar is an organic substance, being one of the 
well-known non-azotised proximate principles of vegetables. 
It is composed of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, the two 
last elements existing in the proportions which constitute 
water; therefore it is said to be composed of carbon and the 
elements of water, in the proportion of carbon 12 atoms, 
and the elements of water 11 atoms. When deprived of 
1 atom of water, (with which it unites as with a base, ; 
sugar becomes anhydrous, and is then composed of carbon 
12, and the elements of water 10, but it never exists 
naturally in this form. 

These facts prove, that although portions of the inor- 
ganic particles of the soil are abstracted by the plant for 
the purpose of building up its structure, they form no part 
of the sugar which is secreted by it, a circumstance which 
forms a remarkable and distinctive feature in that branch 
of agricultural industry, which has for its object the culti- 
vation of the sugar cane. 

The sugar cane is found growing in all intertropical 
countries, and it is cultivated extensively both in the East 
and West Indies. In this treatise, in describing the 
methods best adapted for producing the plant most 
abundantly and economically, and the most perfect 
and effective manner of converting its juices into crys- 
tallized sugar, I shall confine my remarks entirely to 



PHYSIOLOGY 0± THE SUGAR CANT. 



27 



the latter region, as that with which I am practically 
acquainted. 

There are many varieties of the sugar cane, but although 
they differ in size, colour, and productiveness, they are 
identical in their organization and structure, and the same 
methods of culture and manufacture apply equally to all.* 

Until the beginning of the present century, the variety 
commonly known as the Creole cane, originally brought 
from Madeira, was universally cultivated in the West 
Indies; but since the introduction of the Bourbon and 
Otakeite, which closely resemble each other, and which are 
vastlv superior, the Creole has almost entirely disappeared. 
Of these, the Bourbon is now most generally cultivated, 
and, when grown under favourable circumstances, and 
where the necessary attention and skill are bestowed upon 
its culture, it is as hardy and productive a plant as the most 
sanguine agriculturist could desire. 

The cane is propagated by cuttings, which grow very 
readily, the part used for that purpose being the upper 
termination of the stem, which includes a series of short, 
semiformed joints, each of which is furnished with an 
" eye ;; or bud. This portion of the cane, not being 
matured, contains very little saccharine matter, so that no 
loss of sugar occurs by using it for plants; but every joint 

* Full and elaborate descriptions of the different varieties of sugar 
canes are given in u Porter's "Work on the Nature and Properties of the 
Sugar Cane,*' and in " Wray's Practical Sugar Planter.'" 



CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR, CANE. 



of the stem is a perfect plant, and will grow readily, and 
certainly. 

Having thus glanced at the anatomy and nature of the 
cane, and the simple composition of sugar, I shall endeavour 
to point out the wide difference which exists between its 
cultivation and that of any other kind of farming, and how 
much more simple and satisfactory the operations of the 
Planter would become, was this circumstance fully under- 
stood and acted on. 

Every cultivated plant deprives the earth in which it is 
grown, of some portion of its constituent parts, which 
must be restored, or the soil will become exhausted, and 
no longer able to produce the plant for want of materials 
to build up its structure. This is a fact known to all 
farmers, and has been strikingly exemplified in the cultiva- 
tion of tobacco ; large tracts of land in America, formerly 
of exceeding fertility, having been rendered sterile, by 
being incessantly cropped with that plant. The skilful 
farmer, by a judicious rotation of crops, which differ in their 
composition, taking care to restore in due order the sub- 
stances carried off by them, and by exposure of the soil 
to atmospheric influences by repeated ploughing, giving 
time and facility for fresh portions of the required sub- 
stances to disintegrate and become available for the sus- 
tenance of plants, is enabled not only to keep his land in 
continued fertility, but to increase its natural capabilities, 
and to render the tillage of it easier and more economical. 

A knowledge of these circumstances, and a skilful 



\ 



IMPROVEMENTS IN" AGRICULTURE. 29 

adaptation of them to any locality, constitutes the science 
of agriculture — a science which calls forth a very great 
degree of mental exertion for its acquirement, as a thorough 
acquaintance with its principles and practice, demands a 
knowledge of chemistry, geology, botany, meteorology, 
zoology, and mechanics : and, moreover, requires more than 
any other branch of industry, patience, research, observation, 
and untiring zeal. 

The agriculture of temperate regions, whatever variety 
it may assume, causes a certain exhaustion of the soil. 
The cultivation of the cereals, particularly wheat, produces 
this effect most speedily, large portions of the elements of 
fertility being carried off in the grain. Even breeding and 
dairy farms gradually suffer from the same cause, the 
bodies of the animals in the one case, and the products of 
the dairy in the other, abounding in mineral salts. In 
every case the attention of the farmer ought to be directed 
to the nature of the substances withdrawn from the soil, 
and the most economical method of restoring them. 

In the ancient practice of agriciilture, these facts were 
imperfectly understood, or totally lost sight of, and the 
empirical methods pursued were often unsatisfactory, and 
at best uncertain ; but from the recent labours of Davy, 
Liebig, Shier, Johnston, ice, these uncertainties have been 
removed, and the science reduced to certain rules, which 
being based upon natural laws, are infallible, and capable 
of adaptation to any circumstances. 

I have been led to make these remarks in order to show 



30 



CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR CANE. 



more clearly the advantage which the Planter possesses over 
the farmer of temperate countries, in the simple arrange- 
ments to which his agricultural practice may be reduced. 
I mentioned that sugar contains none of the elements of 
fertility of which the soil has been deprived by the plant. 
It is therefore obvious, that if, after extracting the sugar, 
the Planter returns to the earth the megass from the mill, 
and the refuse from the distillery, the soil will not in any 
respect be deteriorated or impoverished, but that crop after 
crop may be reaped; and provided the necessary tillage be 
afforded, it will rather be improved than injured by this 
apparently ceaseless drain. It is important therefore for the 
Planter to bear in mind, that although he cannot too early 
adopt the mechanical inventions which science and ingenuity 
have introduced into the agricultural practice of the mother 
country for economizing labour, and improving the texture 
of the soil, yet if he bases his operations on a knowledge 
of the facts above alluded to, he is free from all the anxiety 
and expense attendant on the production and application 
of manures. 

At present it is true that so long as the megass is used 
for fuel in the manufacturing process, it is impossible to 
adopt this system of cultivation. But this objection can 
be readily obviated, by the substitution of coal as fuel ; and 
when the many and serious imperfections of the established 
method of sugar manufacture, and the superiority of coal 
in furnaces of improved construction are considered, as 
well as the benefit which must accrue from the operation of 



\ 



IMPROVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURE. 



31 



the economical and rational system of agriculture proposed, 
it is scarcely possible to doubt but that its adoption will 
eventually become general, and that its immense and 
evident advantages will outweigh every argument which 
can be raised against it, and overcome the opposition which, 
in common with all innovations upon established habit, it 
is likely to experience. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE METHOD OF CULTIVATION BEST ADAPTED TO THE WEST INDIES, 
DEDUCED FROM THE RESULTS OE SUCCESSFUL PRACTICE IN VARIOUS 
ISLANDS — REFUTATION OF THE ARGUMENTS ADVANCED AGAINST IT 
BY THE ADVOCATES OF THE EXPENSIVE AND INEFFICIENT SYSTEM 
USUALLY PRACTISED. 

The first and great object to be attended to in the 
cultivation of the cane is, the reduction of expenditure ; and 
experience lias shown, that all attempts to bring this about 
by coalitions to reduce wages have been abortive. It is 
true, wages have recently fallen to about one-half of the 
usual standard, but this is occasioned by the recent change 
of duties in favour of slave-grown sugar, and would not 
continue were brighter prospects opening, from the fact 
that the demand for labour would then greatly exceed the 
supply. The only way, therefore, to reduce expenditure, is 
to adopt such a system of cultivation as shall require few 
hands, and by such means the supply will become equal to 
the demand, and then there can never occur the unnatural 
position of the servant dictating to his employer. 

Experience has shown, that all the preparation required 




IMPROVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURE. 



33 



for planting the cane, can be performed better with the 
plough than with the hoe, and that there is no necessity 
for employing any labourers in the process, except the 
persons required to manage the ploughs. The weeding 
also which is required between the rows of canes can be 
performed by the horse-hoe or cultivator, which is easily 
drawn by a horse or a stout mule, and only requires 
one person to manage it. 

By adopting this course the Planter can at once dispense 
with his gangs of holers, cross-holers, and the greater 
part of his weeders, so that he will have an abundance 
of labourers at moderate wages, for those operations in 
which they are necessary, and thus be enabled to secure 
the only advantage which the proprietor of slaves possesses 
over the employer of free-labourers, a continuity of labour. 
which, for the process of manufacture to be correctly accom- 
plished, is indispensable. This will avoid the necessity for 
expending money, in the meantime, in immigration, as the 
supply of labourers in the British West Indies is quite 
sufficient, if their labour be judiciously applied, to keep in 
cultivation all the estates which were cultivated during the 
time of slavery.* 

TYTien the prejudices of the Planters were so far over- 
come as to admit the use of the plough at all, which 
was only accomplished by the great perseverance of the 

* Of course, these remarks on immigration do not apply to such Colo- 
nies as Trinidad, which have never been more than partially settled, and 
where, as new land is taken up, an increase of population is required. 

D 



CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR CANE. 



spirited persons who introduced it, it was still thought 
indispensable to go through the form of digging cane- 
holes, and cross-holing afterwards, which was afterwards 
modified by ploughing banks and trenches at the required 
distances, and then forming cane-holes in the trenches by 
the operation of cross-holing. No one thought it possible 
that canes could grow in any other way than in the cane- 
hole which they had been accustomed to; and various 
reasons were brought forward in support of the cane-hole 
system. 

The first, and most important, was, that unless the 
earth was disposed in that form, it would be washed 
away by the heavy rains, particularly on slopes. This is 
an erroneous idea, as the earth is washed away just as 
readily when reduced to that form, as if left flat, and, 
indeed much more so, than if deeply ploughed and with a 
plain surface. The hill-sides of England are not dug 
into holes, yet the plough is used unsparingly on them, 
and we hear no complaints of their washing away. But 
the banks of the cane-holes are continually giving way, 
from the weight of water in the holes in heavy rains, and 
the finest portions of the mould and manure are carried 
away in rivulets in ail directions. 

Another reason given is, that the roots of the cane have 
a tendency to grow upwards to the surface, and that it is 
necessary to plant it at the bottom of a deep hole, to 
allow it to follow its bent, by throwing its roots upwards 
to the top of the bank; and this is attempted to be 



\ 



PRESENT SYSTEM 01 PLANTING CANES. 



35 



proved, by showing the stool of a cane, grown in a 
cane-hole, with its roots,, after radiating outwards, all 
curving upwards at the extremities. This reasoning is 
very simply answered by the fact, that the roots of the 
cane, or of any other plant, must go in search of the 
nutriment upon which the plant subsists, and if the cane 
plant is placed at the bottom of a deep hole, on a hard 
and barren subsoil, and all the substances which are to 
support its existence are piled around upon a high bank, 
its roots have no alternative but to grow upwards in search 
of the food which they can only find there. Let any one 
who is unconvinced of this, plant canes, as I have done, 
in deeply ploughed and carefully tilled land, with a plain 
surface, and they will find that no roots grow upwards, but 
that one portion of the roots extend laterally to what such 
persons would consider an incredible distance, and that 
another portion strike downwards, as far as the nature of 
the soil will afford them anv thins: to 2:0 in search of. I 
have followed the roots of a bunch of canes in an alluvial 
deposit, to a depth of more than four feet, and have traced 
them to a distance of six feet from the centre of the bunch ; 
and further, in support of this assertion, I quote from one of 
the Jamaica prize essays, the following passage : — " In dig- 
ging post holes for a cow pen, in a thrown up cane piece, 1 
have found abundance of strong cane roots, running in 
all directions, in a stiff, cold clay, two feet perpendicular 
below the surface. In transplanting some young canes, 
about six or eight weeks old, I pulled up some with roots 



CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR CANE. 



fully three feet long. They must have been much longer, 
but the fine ends were broken off, by being roughly pulled 
out of the ground. On mentioning the above circum- 
stances to a friend of mine, he told me that, in confirma- 
tion of the circumstances, on one occasion when travelling, 
he passed a part of a steep bank that had lately fallen from 
wet weather, and that he could distinctly trace the cane- 
roots ten feet deep." * 

A further reason given in support of the cane-hole is, that 
by its peculiar formation all the richest and most soluble 
portions cf the manure are washed down to the centre close 
to the plant. This is as absurd as either of the foregoing, 
for as the extremities of the roots absorb the nutriment for 
the plant by their spongioles, and as these roots extend 
some distance from the plant itself, it is evident that the 
result of this washing to the centre, is to take the choicest 
portions of such Nutriment out of the reach of the roots. 
It is like applying food, as you would a blister, to the pit 
of the stomach, instead of placing it in such a condition 
that it can be conveyed to the mouth. 

The only advantage I ever perceived the cane-hole to 
possess was, that when the cultivation had been late, and 
the land was to be planted immediately, a comparatively 
light shower, from being drained toward the centre of the 
hole, afforded sufficient moisture to put the plants in, and 
ensure their springing ; and I have seen it adduced as an 

* No. 4 Essay, by W. F. Whitehouse, Esq., St. Mary's. 



\ 



PREPARATION OP THE LAND FOR PLANTING. 37 

evidence of the superiority of the cane-hole, that plants 
would grow in them after a light shower, in general dry 
weather, when there was not sufficient moisture to pro- 
duce vegetation in land prepared in any other way. This 
in itself, however, implies an improper mode of culture, for 
this superiority only exists when the land has not been 
tilled at the proper period, but has been recently broken 
up ; for when land, that has been thoroughly ploughed and 
pulverised, has been once perfectly moistened, which, if 
attended to at the proper season, it is sure to be, it will 
retain moisture sufficient to promote the vegetation of the 
cane plant for a very long period. 

The cane requires no cane-hole, nor trench, nor any 
peculiar formation of the surface of the soil ; it is devel- 
oped in the greatest perfection in deeply ploughed and 
thoroughly pulverised land, the surface being left in the 
shape it assumes naturally, and which is not only best 
adapted for the growth of the plant, but for preventing 
the removal of the soil by heavy rains. Land, in this 
state, is also best adapted for the use of those agricultural 
implements, which are calculated both to improve the 
texture and fertility of the soil, and to enable the Planter 
to dispense with much unnecessary and expensive human 
labour. 

When the cultivation is carried on entirely with imple- 
ments, employing only such hands as are necessary to 
direct them, there will be an abundant supply of labour at 
command for all the other wants of the estate ; and even 



CULTIVATION OE THE SUGAR CANE. 



should it be necessary to give higher wages during crop 
time, for the purpose of ensuring continuous and rapid 
manufacture, we should only be in the position of the 
British farmer, who necessarily spends more while reaping 
his harvest, than at other seasons, and, like him, we should 
command the services of many who never assist in the 
labours of agriculture, except at such a juncture, but who 
would lay aside their various vocations to participate in the 
additional reward for labour, which it would be to the 
interest of the Planter then to give. And although, by 
this system, a large force of labourers would be brought 
into the market at the close of the manufacturing season, 
there is no fear of running into the opposite extreme — 
there need be no want of employment. Those persons who 
possess, or could procure capital, would be able to improve 
their estates by draining, making roads, &c, which im- 
provements they cannot now attempt for want of labour ; and 
as these are operations which they can arrange at their 
own convenience, they would be able to accomplish them 
at the cheapest rate — a very different matter from the 
chance of a crop of ripe canes rotting for want of labourers 
to take them off, because some more fortunate or less 
scrupulous neighbour is employing them in digging cane- 
holes, or weeding young caries, operations which, as we 
have shown, can be better performed with the plough and 
the hoe harrow. 

By pursuing this system not only would the cost of pro- 
duction be immensely reduced, but the crops in time be 



\ 



PREPARATION OP THE LANS TOR PLANTING. 



30 



increased to double their present amount, and, as a matter 
of consequence, property would rise to its legitimate 
value. It is not a plan which requires the investment of 
capital, but is within the reach of every proprietor of West 
India property; and were they to insist on their attorneys 
not employing a single hoe in the preparation of the land, 
but to plant the rows of canes at such a distance apart, as 
to permit the free use of the horse-hoe or cultivator in 
weeding the space between, their estates would rapidly 
recover from the prostration and difficulties induced by 
want of sufficient labour, and we would hear no more of 
the necessity for immigration, unless for the necessities of 
new settlements. 

It may be urged by some, that many estates are too 
hilly to be benefited by this system, as the plough is not 
adapted for their cultivation. This, undoubtedly, may be 
the case in a few instances, but the objection, generally, is 
incorrect, as very few hills on which canes are now cultivated 
are so steep as not to admit of being tilled by the plough. 
Here in Scotland, where I write, I see the steep hill-sides 
ploughed with the greatest ease, and by using a plough 
adapted for the purpose, of which I have myself proved the 
efficacy, the difficulty of turning the furrow slices up hill 
is avoided, as the plough, by a simple contrivance, reverses 
its mould board at each turn, so as always to throw the 
furrow slice downwards, and it is so light and easy of 
draught, that a pair of horses work it with ease in any 
kind of soil. 



CHAPTER IV. 



ON THE PLANTING OF CANES — -"VARIOUS 3IETEODS OF SETTING THE 
PLANTS — ADVANTAGES OF WIDE PLANTING. 

The next point to be observed is the manner of plant- 
ing the canes. The plants should be carefully selected; 
and it would be better to have a nursery or patch of 
canes, from which to secure good well developed plants, 
for the early planted pieces, than to use, as is too often 
the case, small and worthless plants, picked from the 
worst piece of canes on the estate, and which are gener- 
ally characterised as being " good for nothing but plants" 
It is also advantageous to procure plants from canes 
grown in different localities and soils. This subject, how- 
ever, although well worthy of being attended to, is not 
of such paramount importance as the preparation of the 
land, as almost any plants, when put into good and well- 
prepared land, will, after the first few sprouts, begin to 
acquire size and strength, and throw out a sufficient 
number of fine healthy sprouts from the bottom of the 
first, and it is these which form the canes which constitute 
the crop. It is obvious, however, that the better the plant. 



\ 



THE PLANTING OF CANES- 



il 



and the healthier the first shoots, the more rapidly and 
perfectly will the succeeding shoots be developed from 
them. 

Canes are planted in a variety of ways. Originally the 
hoe was the only implement used for that purpose. A 
chop was made in the bottom of the cane-hole, and the 
plant being placed in it horizontally, was covered lightly 
with mould from the sides of the bank, and trodden upon, 
to prevent the too rapid evaporation of the moisture. It 
was afterwards deemed expedient by some to use an iron 
crowbar or drill, which was plunged vertically into the 
earth, and on withdrawing it, the plant was inserted in the 
hole thus formed. Others used light pickaxes, by which a 
hole was made, into which the plant was forced, lying, 
when planted, at an angle of about 45 above the horizon. 
All these methods, when carefully performed, answered the 
purpose. But in land which is well pulverised by deep 
ploughing and subsoil ploughing, the plant can be pushed 
in simply with the hand, without any implement being 
necessary, or, at all events, a small dibble, carried in the 
basket with the plants, would suffice to remove any trifling 
obstruction which might exist. 

The distance at which the plants should be set apart from 
each other, has been a subject upon which much difference 
of opinion has existed. It is not long ago since it was con- 
sidered necessary to put not less than two plants into the 
cane-hole, and as many as four and five have been wasted 
for that purpose. One gentleman, who was eminent as a 



42 



CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR CANE. 



Planter in the beginning of the present century, who 
possessed some fine estates in Barbadoes, and who is still 
alive, used to put a plant in each corner of the hole, and 
one in the middle, and regret there was no room for more ! 
The number of plants has since been decreased, and in 
some cases the size of the cane-hole increased with much 
advantage — one plant in a hole, three and a -half or 
four feet square, being deemed sufficient. About ten 
years ago an experiment was tried by some enterpris- 
ing persons of increasing the space between the rows 
of cane-plants, which proved so successful, that, even 
without taking into consideration the vast advantage 
to be derived from the facility afforded for the use of 
the horse-hoe in weeding, the plan was, in a few years, 
very extensively adopted in Barbadoes, and St. Kitts, 
and partially in other places.* The distance most usually 
adopted, was six feet by four, that is parallel rows, six feet 
apart, and the plants set four feet from each other on the 
row. Many, however, planted them farther apart, widen- 
ing the space between the rows to eight feet, and keeping 
the plants four feet apart on the row, as before, with what 
success may be seen from the fact, that a gentleman, well 
known in Barbadoes, reaped in 1847, from 90 acres of canes, 
planted eight feet by four, 230 hhds. of sugar. Even 
with such facts before them, so great is the force of habit 
and prejudice, that many persons cannot be convinced 

* I perceive the author of one of the Jamaica prize essays in 1843? 
advocating the practice. 



ADVANTAGES OF WIDE PLANTING. 



48 



of the superiority of wide planting. The space between 
the rows must always in some degree, be in proportion to 
the fertility of the soil. In poor soils it may be limited 
to six feet, and in fertile soils to eight feet. There are 
instances of persons increasing the distance to ten feet, 
and in some instances to eight feet square, but these cases 
are rare. 

To those who cannot comprehend how canes can thrive so 
far apart, it is only necessary that they should witness the 
bulk and dense appearance of ripe canes, which have been 
planted in this manner, and their peculiar adaptation for 
resisting the blighting effects of the frequent droughts, 
from the length and strength of their roots, for long 
before they have reached maturity, their roots have pene- 
trated and occupied every portion of the space between the 
rows, and if the subsoil is naturally good, or made so by 
draining and subsoil ploughing, they will descend to an 
astonishing depth in search of moisture and nutriment. 
This is abundantly evidenced by the success which has 
followed the experiments of those who have advocated and 
adopted this method of planting. Yet so powerful is the 
prejudice in favour of established habits and usages, that 
numbers of Planters, and I particularly instance Antigua, 
as being the island with which I have been latterly best 
acquainted, cannot be brought to see the necessity 
existing for it, or allow the possibility of its general success, 
making the most absurd assertions of peculiarity of soil, 
&c, which they say will not admit of its being successful, 



44 



CULTIVATION 01 THE SUGAR CANE. 



And when in some instances they have been unwillingly 
compelled by their instructions, to pursue a modified form 
of it, it has been done so carelessly, and so much against 
the inclination, that its success has in several instances 
been rendered abortive. I have found it to answer per- 
fectly well in Antigua, the soil of which island is generally 
more fertile than that of Barbadoes, and in St. Kitts its 
success has been most complete and gratifying. 



CHAPTER V, 



IMPORTANCE OF RETURNING THE MEG-ASS TO THE SOIL— THE 
INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF SEVERE DROUGHT OBVIATED BY COVERING 
THE SOIL — RATOONTNG — PROPER SEASON FOR PLANTING. 

The other important point which I would urge on the 
attention of the Planter, and to which I slightly adverted 
before, is, to return to the soil every portion of the struc- 
ture of the cane, both in megass, and in the refuse from 
the boiling-house and distillery. This will, of course, 
meet with much opposition from those who are accustomed 
to consider megass the only fuel adapted for the evapora- 
tion of cane-juice. To all, however, who are aware of the 
superiority of coal as fuel, of the great improvements which 
can be effected in evaporating vessels, the cheap rate at 
which coals can be supplied from Great Britain in quan- 
tities, and when, moreover, the cost of the coals is saved by 
the reduction in the expenses of weeding, and of drying 
the megass for fuel, to say nothing of the expensive pro- 
cess of making and applying manure, now rendered 
unnecessary, the plan of returning the megass to the soil, 
must appear calculated to effect an important benefit. It 



CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR CAKE. 



is also manifestly to the advantage of the shipowner and 
merchant, as well as to the Planter, by giving an additional 
employment for shipping, and rendering the trade more 
profitable, by insuring full cargoes both ways. 

There is one advantage, moreover, which the covering 
of the earth with megass presents, which is of more 
importance to those Colonies which are liable to have their 
crops destroyed by severe droughts, than any which I have 
enumerated, and which must appear clear to all who have 
considered the subject. The thick covering of megass 
laid on the spaces between the cane-rows, prevents the 
great evaporation of moisture from the earth, which 
takes place in dry seasons. Indeed, the benefit of cov- 
ering the ground for this purpose is well known to 
some Planters, who are at the expense of cutting grasses, 
and carting field trash to cover the surface; and when 
even so imperfect a covering as this is found useful in 
averting, in some degree, the evil, it is manifest how 
great the advantage of such a covering as megass. In fact, 
there would be a certainty of securing, in any year, how- 
every dry, a remunerating crop. 

I have long been convinced of the necessity of following 
out this plan with megass, but have never had an oppor- 
tunity of doing so except on a small scale, which was, 
however, quite sufficient to verify its correctness. 

A late writer (Mr. Wray) also advocates the returning 
of the megass to the soil, and using coal for fuel ; and, I 
think it the most valuable suggestion in his book. He 



\ 



IMPORTANCE OF RETURNING THE ME0ASS TO THE SOIL. 47 



does not seeni, however, to be aware of the advantages 
which it would present, as a shield from the effects of 
droughts, for he speaks of burying it in the earth, and 
allowing it to rot, which would be a troublesome as well as 
a useless operation, because it would as surely resolve itself 
into its elements, although more slowly, if placed on the 
surface, as if buried under it. 

I remember a remarkable instance of the good effect of 
covering the banks of cane-holes, in a field pointed out to 
me on an estate in Barbadoes, which had borne a very 
large crop of canes in a dry year. The soil of the field 
was so shallow, that large quantities of stones had been 
broken up with pickaxes from the bottoms of the cane- 
holes, and had been disposed upon the banks; and the 
stone having a sort of schistose fracture, giving flattish 
slabs, formed a tolerably complete covering for them. 
This prevented much of the evaporation which would 
otherwise have taken place ; and many jests were current at 
the time on the peculiarity of the manure, as it was 
jocularly called, and its remarkable effects. This circum- 
stance must be fresh in the recollection of many persons 
in that island. 

It is supposed by some persons, that placing a thick 
coat of vegetable substances upon the earth, will give 
shelter to numbers of insects, and so nurse a source of 
injury to the young sprouts. We do not, however, find 
that the thick covering of field trash left upon some of 
our ratoon fields, is productive of this species of injury. 



CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR CANE. 



But even should it be found that this does occur, it is 
easily corrected after taking off the last crop of ratoons, 
by burning the field trash on the surface, a process which 
would effectually destroy all insects and their larvae. 

Under the usual system of planting, I have always 
studiously avoided burning, making it a principal object 
to accumulate all the vegetable matter possible on the sur- 
face. But where the plan for returning the megass to the 
surface of the soil is adopted, the objection to its being 
occasionally or periodically practised, would no longer 
exist. 

Another subject which, in an economical point of view, 
cannot be too strongly advocated, is, that more attention 
should be paid to ratooning. Good ratoons can only be 
produced by a deep and early tillage of the land to be 
planted ; and more land should not be broken up than can 
be thoroughly tilled at an early period. It is a very 
common error to grasp at too much, and to do the whole 
imperfectly. It is much more economical in every way to 
make a hundred hogsheads of sugar from thirty or forty 
acres than from sixty or eighty. In fact, the quantity of 
land planted should not be regulated by the size of the 
estate, but by the power of stock and implements at com- 
mand; and the preparation should in all cases be com- 
pleted at least three months before the time for planting. 
When this rule is observed, and a thick covering of vege- 
table matter applied to the surface, good ratoons will be 
sure to follow, particularly where the rows of canes have 



\ 



PROPER SEASON FOR PLANTING- CANES, 



49 



been planted sufficiently apart from each other. I have 
seen ratoons equal to good plant canes, grown upon land 
which was previously supposed to be incapable of ratoon- 
ing; and during the present year, some of the finest and 
healthiest looking canes, on a particular estate with which 
I am acquainted, were ratoons, growing in rows seven feet 
apart, and this after a season of severe and protracted 
drought. 

The proper season for planting varies in different 
Colonies and localities, but the fault of late planting 
appears to be rather general. It is better not to plant 
the bulk of a crop at once, but at intervals, commenc- 
ing very early, and extending it over a period of about 
five months, planting a portion every month. This 
will regulate the season for reaping, and will enable 
manufacturing operations to be commenced at a proper 
period, and finished before the rainy season sets in and 
causes a fresh and injurious growth to commence in the 
canes. 

I could say much on the necessity of pawing strict 
attention to all the more detailed operations in the con- 
ducting of an estate, as cutting canes, carting, &c. &c., 
but I do not intend this as a treatise on management, 
so much as an elucidation of such a system of culti- 
vation as is within the reach of every proprietor of a 
sugar estate, a system which, I believe, will at once 
reduce the cost of production, increase the supply of 



E 



50 



CULTIVATION OP THE SUGAR CANE. 



labourers, and prevent, to a great extent, the recurrence 
of so serious a calamity as the loss of a crop by drought. 
It is scarcely possible, however, in treating of this im- 
portant subject, to avoid digressing considerably in 
order to illustrate more fully the advantages of the 
system proposed. 



\ 



CHAPTER VI. 



ON STOCK AND IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. 

I now proceed to consider the materials, by the use of 
which so much benefit may be produced, — stock and imple- 
ments of agriculture. 

The number of cattle on most estates exceeds their 
requirements, but their strength is generally quite inade- 
quate to what is expected of them, even for the usual 
carting operations. This arises from the little care 
bestowed either in feeding or lodging them. They 
are left, when not at work during the day, to ramble 
about upon some bare and arid pasture, or " hungry hill- 
side," to pick up a miserable subsistence among the 
roots of the coarse herbage, while, from the carelessness of 
the herdsmen, they are continually destroying the growing 
crops in passing and repassing. And at night they are 
turned into some comfortless pen on a bleak field, or 
exposed yard, sometimes up to their knees in filth, and 
exposed to every vicissitude of weather, often to the 
pouring of incessant rain; while their food varies from bad 
to worse, either the green and often tainted tops of the 



52 



CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR CANE. 



cane, or the same dried and half-rotten, or a scanty bundle 
of dry and old grass, which is more than half lost in the 
surrounding filth. For this reason, we find that eis;ht 
oxen are often inadequate to do the work which four, in 
good condition and well fed, could do with ease. This state 
of things is too generally the case, and the mortality which 
ensues is clearly evident by the heavy item in the annual 
expenses of the estate, for the supply of this deficiency. 
Mr. "VTray, in speaking of the mortality among the cattle 
on estates in Jamaica, says, " These little circumstances 
may seem very trivial, but indeed they are not so, they 
serve to swell the number of reasons why Jamaica estates 
do not pay, and account for the heavy losses sustained in 
the numerous cattle that die off, or rather that are ignor- 
antly killed every year. Is it not to be expected that cattle 
so abused will die ? Is it not indeed a matter of surprise, 
that any of them survive such shocking treatment? g It 
really is. And when we consider that good young oxen 
or steers cost in Jamaica from £10 to £16 sterling each, 
we cannot fail to perceive, that every possible reason is 
in favour of a proper selection and management of cattle. 
* * * But this is by no means the plan pursued in 
Jamaica. On almost every estate in the island, the cattle 
may be seen hung at nights, all the year round, in open 
and exposed cattle-pens, often knee-deep in muck and 
mire \ at one season of the year bloated with green grass, 
at another half-starved, miserable, and swarming with 
ticks — hard worked by day, and wretchedly fed at night. 



STOCK AND IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTUEE. 53 

On no estate have I ever seen good, clean, well covered- 
in stalls, in which a steer might be tied up and fed. 
Neither have I ever seen guinea-grass hay made and 
stacked for the working cattle of an estate, that they might 
become firm in flesh, and capable of great and long con- 
tinued exertion. Far from all this, I have generally 
remarked a total disregard for their preservation, amount- 
ing to a shameful sacrifice of property. Amongst the 
many, I will instance a property I was once intimately 
acquainted with, on the north side of Jamaica, of about 
750 acres, and then making 150 hhds. (of 1800 lbs. each) 
of sugar. * * * This property had 250 head of 
horned cattle, worth, as nearly as possible, £8 a head — 
£2000 sterling — about 40 mules, value about £20 each — 
£800 — in all £2800 sterling for cattle alone, which one 
would be apt to suppose an enormous sum, yet this estate 
was every year supplied with fresh cattle to supply losses by 
death. * * * We know that the average working 
period of a steer or heifer in Jamaica, under favourable 
circumstances, is 10 years, but when a little extra care 
has been bestowed upon them, we may safely reckon on 
15 years, whilst a mule, with common care, will work for 
20, 30, and even 40 years. I have had four mules varying 
in age from 45 to 48 years each, as proved by most 
undoubted evidence, and all of them at that age taking 
their regular spells in turn" — Wray's Practical Planter. 

There are some persons who deserve great credit for the 
care which they bestow upon their stock, and there are 



54 



CULTIVATION OE THE SUGAR CANE. 



instances of estates, upon which cattle never require to be 
purchased. The proprietors reap the benefit of such wise 
conduct, not only in being saved this great and increasing 
outlay, but also in the greater amount of work performed by 
their cattle. But these are, unfortunately, exceptions to the 
general rule, and the necessity for the proper care of the 
stock of an estate, cannot therefore be too strongly incul- 
cated. They are the first and most indispensable requisite 
of the agriculturist, and without them he can do nothing. 
Every beast is a separate engine of force, which must be sep- 
arately attended to, and all its wants carefully supplied ; and 
the first and most important building on the estate, is the one 
in which the stock are to be lodged. There is no occasion 
for having a greater number of stock than the extent of the 
cultivation requires ; but it will be the most economical, as 
well as the most effective system, to house them entirely, 
giving each animal its separate stall, well ventilated and 
kept free from all filth — the stalls being so arranged that 
all the excrements and litter can be swept into a common 
receptacle, sunk below the level, which can be performed 
by the persons at present employed to saunter about with 
the cattle on the so-called pastures. In these stalls the 
cattle should be fed at stated times, and an ample and 
regular supply of food provided, by planting guinea or 
para-grass. Moreover, all estates should produce sufficient 
grain for the support of their working stock, and so save 
the necessity of purchasing. 

The Psalmist, in praying for the prosperity of his people, 



\ 



STOCK AND IMPLEMENTS OE AGRICULTURE. 



55 



asks emphatically, among other blessings, " that our oxen 
may be strong to labour, that there be no decay." 

Oxen are best adapted for ploughing stiff lands, keeping 
a heavier and steadier strain than horses or mules, but the 
latter answer better for weeding, carting, and all the 
lighter work, as being more rapidly and easily managed, 
and not trampling the cultivated ground so much. 

All carts and waggons should be of as light a construc- 
tion as is consistent with strength ; and where they are 
intended for carting substances over the finished prepara- 
tions, the wheels should be made very broad and light, to 
prevent them sinking into the land. Indeed, by a little 
ingenuity in the construction of light carts, for carrying 
manure or megass into the fields of young canes, most of 
the manual labour can be saved, as the carts, if properly 
constructed, can be driven through the young sprouts 
without doing them any injury. Care should be taken that 
all the harness is well fitted to each animal. The portions 
which press forcibly on the body, as they often become 
very hard with a little use, should always be carefully 
stuffed and soft ; and the yokes and collars used for cattle 
should be light and well padded. 

The various ploughs in use have each their admirers, and 
their adaptation varies with soil and locality. Wilkie's has 
been most used, but Ransomed and Jefferies^s are excellent, 
and there are many light ploughs of American construction, 
which, in light soils, do a great deal of work, being of very 
easy draught. The hill-side plough, to which I formerly 



56 



CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR CANE. 



alluded, was a light American one, and I found it to answer 
the purpose admirably. The lightest and best subsoil 
plough which I have seen is " Read^s subsoil pulveriser/* 
by Stratton of Bristol. I have used both it and " Smith" 
of Deanston^s subsoil plough, but the latter requires a 
great strength of cattle to draw it, and although, when 
understood, it is easily handled, yet its weight and resist- 
ance render it much less generally serviceable than the 
first named, which performs its work admirably and with- 
out any undue exertion of the stock.* Of other agricul- 
tural implements, as u hoe-harrows/* " cultivators," &c, 
their superiority will always be in proportion to the sim- 
plicity of their construction, as I have always found those 
which are least complicated, the most efficient. 

* To all who desire to obtain information on the subject of ploughing, the 
effect produced by ploughs of various construction, the care of stock, and 
all other subjects connected with modern agriculture, I would recommend 
the perusal of " Stephens's Book of the Farm," as the most complete and 
valuable work on agriculture ever published, 



CHAPTER VII. 



RECAPITULATION — NECESSITY OF REFORM IN THE METHODS EMPLOYED 
FOR THE PRODUCTION OF SUGAR IMPORTANCE OF A WISE LE- 
GISLATION WITH REGARD TO THE WELFARE OF THE WEST INDIAN 
COLONIES — THEIR IMPORTANCE AS SUGAR PRODUCING COUNTRIES, 

In the foregoing pages I have principally discussed the 
culture of the sugar cane, and the most profitable method 
of conducting the agricultural operations of a sugar estate, 
with a view to dimmish the cost of production, and to 
increase the crops, by adopting such a system as may not 
impoverish the soil, and also to obviate, in a great measure, 
the losses occasionally sustained in seasons of drought. 

The remarks which I have made are not based upon 
theoretical deductions, but are facts, the correctness of 
which has been verified by experience, and will be 
admitted by every one who is practically acquainted with 
the matters under discussion. If these facts and conclu- 
sions are duly recognised and acted upon, West Indian 
Planters cannot fail to effect an immediate and salutary 
change in their position and prospects. The proposed 
improvements are not liable to the objection to which many 



58 



CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR CANE. 



schemes for benefiting the Colonies are open to ; the sub- 
stitution of the plough for hand-hoeing, and the greater 
care of the cattle, require no fresh investment of capital. 
Secondly, the results are not problematical but certain. 
Thirdly, these improvements can be adopted by every 
individual proprietor, independently of the co-operation of 
his neighbours. Fourthly, they are attainable without 
the assistance of Government. Fifthly, the consequence 
of such improvements will be to develop an abundant 
labouring population, in places which at present are sup- 
posed to require the aid of immigration. And, sixthly, 
the system I have indicated will tend to keep the rate of 
wages at a regular and moderate standard, and to render 
the peasantry orderly, civil, and industrious — qualities 
which have rarely been developed during the last fifteen 
years. 

In the succeeding portion of this work, I shall endeavour 
to show clearly the imperfections in the various stages of 
the process of manufacture, as at present practised ; to 
indicate the losses sustained in each of these stages ; and to 
point out such methods as science and successful practice 
have demonstrated to be effectual in preventing such losses, 
and in rendering the product more valuable to the manu- 
facturer. 

This portion of my subject will necessarily be distinct 
from the former, as requiring the investment of capital in 
effecting certain improvements in the machinery and 
apparatus employed. I hope to demonstrate satisfactorily, 



\ 



IMPROVEMENT OF WEST INDIAN ESTATES. 59 

that such outlay wall be no rash speculation, but that 
the advantages to be derived from it are so certain and 
considerable, that the value of the saccharine matter at 
present lost in one year by imperfect manufacture, would 
in most instances be sufficient to cover the required outlay. 

I am aware that at present many West Indian proprietors 
are in such embarrassed circumstances, that they would 
find it difficult to make the requisite changes, being unable 
to command the necessary outlay. But there is reason to 
hope, that if the real state of matters in the West Indies 
were fairly brought before the British Parliament, the 
necessary aid would not be refused. Aid has been liber- 
ally granted for the improvement of estates in Great 
Britain and Ireland, from which no such prospects of 
ample and rapid returns can be expected as in the case 
of sugar estates in general. We are also encouraged to 
make such application, from the fact of the British public 
beginning to perceive that great and uncalled for sacrifices 
of West Indian property have been made unnecessarily, 
and without the attainment of the desired object, or indeed 
of any equivalent. A loan for a short term of years w r ould 
be sufficient to render these Colonies flourishing, and quite 
adequate to the production of an abundance of good and 
cheap sugar for the consumption of this country. Pre- 
cautions can easily be adopted to prevent misapplication 
of funds in aid. The investments might even be rendered 
safe and popular stock in the English money market, by a 
guarantee similar to that given by Government in favour 



60 CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR CANE. 

of the loans granted to Canada for public works, (canals, 
&c.j) and in return for the guarantee by the Imperial 
Government, the Colonial Legislatures might enact a pre- 

mtial claim or liability on all estates to which Govern- 
ment grants or loans might be extended. All this is prac- 
ticable without any injustice to claims already existing, 
when the very object would be to create funds for the liqui- 
dation of prior obligations. 

The Planters must also remember that they have not 
only to contend with strangers, but with one another : and 
those who do not bestir themselves to effect the improve- 
ments which are so obvious, and so imperatively required, 
will be distanced, undersold, and ruined by their more 
enterprising brethren. 

There is no doubt that our West Indian possessions con- 
tain the elements of prosperity in an eminent degree. 
Under a proper system of agriculture, their fertility is 
inexhaustible : their geographical position with regard to 
the markets of Europe is all that could be wished for ; and 
the increasing demands of North America will, for gen- 
erations to come, render the West India islands, and the 
adjacent portions of the continent, in whatever hands they 
may happen to be, possessions of first rate importance, and 
sources of boundless production and wealth. 

Some alarm has been expressed by persons interested in 
the West Indies in consequence of the rapidly increasing 
production of beet-root sugar on the continent of Europe : 
but when we reflect upon the inferiority of the beet in 



IMPORTANCE Or THE WEST INDIAN COLONIES. 



61 



the comparative quantity of sugar it contains, being only 
half of that afforded by the cane, the complex nature of its 
juices, and the expensive methods necessary for obtaining 
its sugar, it is evident that on equal terms, the production 
of sugar from the beet stands no chance of successful com- 
petition with the sugar cane. 

The competition of the Eastern hemisphere need never 
be dreaded, because the rude and imperfect process of 
manufacture, the greater difficulty and expense of inland 
transit, and of ocean freight, will always be obstacles to 
successful competition with the West Indies ; not to men- 
tion, that the dense population of Asia is sufficient to con- 
sume all the sugar producedthere. 

The importance of a wise legislation with regard to our 
West Indian Colonies, is therefore an object of primary 
importance. 



PART SECOND. 



ON THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



CHAPTER I. 

LOSSES SUSTAINED BY IMPERFECT MANUFACTURE — COMPOSITION OF 

THE CANE AND ITS JUICE STATE IN WHICH SUGAR EXISTS IN THE 

CANE. 

I come now to the second nortion of mv subject — the 
necessity for adopting a more correct process of sugar manu- 
facture, the method commonly practised being, as we have 
stated, very imperfect, not only causing a vast loss of 
saccharine matter, but making the largest portion of that 
which is brought to the market of so inferior a quality 
as to be unremunerative. 

It is for the mutual interest of planter and merchant that 
an improvement should be effected, because the first will 
derive a larger revenue from the increased quantity and 
value of his sugar, and the latter will not only find employ- 
ment for a greater amount of shipping, but, as under 
proper management, there would be no loss incurred by 



CULTIVATION OE THE SUGAR CANE. 



drainage on the voyage, and as the present freight is 
charged upon the quantity of sugar landed from the vessel, 
it is evident that he will realize his freight upon the twelve 
per cent, of sugar, which, from the present faulty mode of 
manufacture is lost by drainage in the ship's hold. 

It is true that in improving the manufacturing process, 
capital must be embarked to make the necessary alterations 
in the machinery and apparatus, and to effect some changes 
in the buildings in which these operations are conducted : 
but it is obviously the interest of those who can command 
the means to lose no time in effecting such changes, as 
the benefit to be derived from such a course is so great, 
that the increased and improved production of a single 
year will go far to repay the expenses incurred ; and even 
in the case of Planters who cannot command sufficient 
capital to purchase new T machinery, if a system of manu- 
facture were adopted based on a knowledge of the nature 
and properties of the substances to be operated upon, the 
quality of their sugars would be greatly improved. 

It is difficult to conceive any thing more rude than the 
usual method of sugar-boiling ; but it is not surprising 
that no improvement should have taken place in the pro- 
cess, when we reflect that the persons who direct it are 
ignorant of the nature of the substances contained in the 
cane-juice, and what knowledge they have of the manu- 
facture has not been obtained by employing their reasoning 
faculties, but simply by watching an empirical process 
until they become acquainted with its details — a process 




4 



NECESSITY OF IMPROVEMENT. 



65 



which the negro sugar-boilers, by longer habit, become 
better acquainted with than those who superintend them. 
In fact, the difference in quality of most of the sugar at 
present made, depends more upon the care and attention 
of the head boiler than on any superior knowledge possessed 
by the manager. 

Both in France and England, attention has been drawn 
to the necessity of improvement in this process ; and 
men of science and zeal have been busily investigating 
the subject. Dr. Evans, especially, has become emi- 
nent, and his valuable work on sugar manufacture has 
done much to diffuse information on the subject. Dr. 
Mitchell of Trinidad has also been zealously engaged, and 
his researches and information are of the most valuable 
description, not only on the proper treatment of cane- 
juice when obtained, but also on the method of procuring 
the largest possible quantity from the canes by crushing 
— an operation very imperfectly performed by the mills 
commonly used. 

I shall take the liberty of quoting in the following pages, 
some valuable suggestions from the works of these gentle- 
men, which are very far from being so generally known 
as they ought to be, and I shall consider the subject under 
the following heads : — 

First, — The nature of the cane, and the state in which 
the sugar naturally exists in it. 

Second, — The manner of procuring its juice in the 
greatest abundance by the ordinary method of crushing. 



66 



MANUFACTURE OP SUGAR. 



Third, — The method for procuring the largest quantity 
and purest quality of sugar from the expressed juice, with 
a description of the imperfect process which has hitherto 
been employed, and of which M. Michiel in a recent 
pamphlet justly says, u it has little, if at all, improved since 
the days of Marco Paolo, six centuries ago/' 

The cane, when ripe, contains, according to Peligot and 
other analysts, about 18 per cent, of sugar, 10 per cent, of 
ligneous matter, and 72 per cent, of water, with a small 
amount of impurities, varying in quantity with the nature 
of the soil, or the circumstances under which the canes are 
grown. These impurities, although existing in minute 
quantities, exert a very deleterious influence upon the sugar 
during the process of manufacture. They consist chiefly of 
saline matter, and of a highly deliquescent substance, the 
composition of which does not appear to be known, and 
which Hervey simply designates "matiere deliquescente/" 
The proportions of sugar and water differ according to the 
ripeness and perfection of the cane, some canes containing 
much more than the 18 per cent, of sugar assumed as the 
usual quantity, the amount of water decreasing in the same 
proportion — old hard ratoons also contain more ligneous 
matter than soft and juicy canes. 

An erroneous idea seems to prevail, that a portion of 
the sugar contained in the cane exists in a state of ready 
formed crystals ; and I am the more particular in noticing 
this error, as I perceive that Mr. Wray, in the " Practical 
Sugar Planter," not only asserts that this is the case, 




STATE IK WHICH SUGAR EXISTS IX THE CAKE. 



G7 



but proposes a very expensive addition to the sugar mill; 
for the purpose of saturating the megass with hot water, 
and reexpressing it between additional rollers, in order to 
obtain the substance of these imaginary crystals. He 
says, pages 298-9, — " The saturation of the expressed 
canes with hot water or steam has the effect of rendering 
soluble, matter which may be resident in them in a concrete 
form, so that when they pass through the second set of 
rollers they part with this desirable matter ; whereas, if not 
so saturated, mere pressure, though carried to the greatest 
possible extent, cannot effect this important object. It 
has often been proved that canes contain a far larger per 
centage of crystallizable matter than planters, even with 
the best mills, succeed in obtaining from them. This has 
been pronounced by the most intelligent and skilful chem- 
ists, to be in a great degree owing to the fact of the cane 
depositing in its cells sugar in a concrete form, perhaps 
I should say crystalline form, as the microscope discovers - 
true crystals deposited in the cells, which cannot be 
obtained by mere pressure, because it is not in solution. 
Pressure may deprive the cane of its juice, and that juice 
may contain all the sugar, or crystallizable matter, existing 
in it in a soluble form ; but it is evident that whatever 
portion of it may have taken a concrete form, will remain 
adhering to the cellular tissue, until it is brought into a 
state of solution, when it may undoubtedly be obtained 
by a farther pressure. It is also quite clear, that this 
deposit of concrete matter takes place to a much greater 



68 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



extent in fine, rich, and fully matured canes, than in any 
others, which assures us of this singular fact, that the 
more rich and ripe our canes are at the time of cutting, 
and the more dry the weather has been, the greater is the 
deposit of saccharine crystallizable matter, in a concrete 
form, and consequently the greater is our loss when means 
are not used to secure this rich store. With this great 
fact before us, it becomes the planter's duty to inquire,, 
what means he can employ to prevent so serious a loss to 
his estate. Nothing is more natural and necessary than 
such a question, and it can be easily and satisfactorily 
answered. The appliance of a liberal quantum of hot 
water to the crushed cane, whilst passing along the band 
from one set of rollers to the other, will be found a simple 
and sufficiently efficacious means of obtaining the desired 
object/' &c. &c. 

Mr. Thomas Burnell also, in a letter addressed to Lord 
Elgin, published with the Jamaica Prize Essays, remarks 
on the same subject,— " That sugar exists in a pure 
form in the cane, is evident; as a microscopic inspec- 
tion of a thin section will present the perfectly formed 
crystals, filling the angles and coating the sides of the 
hexagonal cells, according to its state of maturity, with 
a column of limpid fluid in the centre, which gradually 
diminishes in volume as the cane ripens, and the crystals 
form from this mother-water/' &c. &c. 

I have seen remarks, having the same tendency, from 
various other sources ; and I have observed, that all manu- 



STATE IN WHICH SUGAR EXISTS IN THE CANE. 



69 



facturers of machinery for crushing caries, with whom I 
have communicated, or whose opinions have been published, 
appear to be impressed with this fallacy. It is necessary 
that all persons engaged in the manufacture of sugar, 
should be disabused of this idea, as opposed both to reason 
and evidence; because, assuming that the cane contains 
two parts of sugar, dissolved in seven parts of water, which 
is about the proportions in which it is proved they exist 
in ripe canes, and knowing that crystals of sugar are 
soluble in half their weight of cold water, it is impossible 
that sugar can exist in the crystalline form, when in con- 
tact with three and a-half times its weight of water, an 
amount sufficient to dissolve seven times the quantity of 
crystallized sugar. This can be readily proved, by any 
inquirer, making the simple experiment with refined sugar 
and water. 

Osmin Hervey says, — " Moreover, a liquor never crys- 
tallizes from its mother-water, without leaving it at the 
point of saturation; and this explains why M. Avequin 
obtained so much melasses, or mother-water, from crys- 
tallised, sugar, whilst M. Plagne, on crystallising the 
mother- water two or three times, obtained almost the whole 
mass crystallised, a circumstance inseparable from Colo- 
nial manufacture. What we advance is sanctioned by 
practice. The finest clayed sugar is used in preparing 
royal sugar. The syrup w^hich is boiled in the vacuum 
pan may be considered as solution of sugar almost pure; 
yet at the first crystallization only 50 per cent, of the 



70 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



sugar is obtained, and the quantity cannot be increased 
without caramelising a portion. According to M. Duban- 
faut, this depends on the fact, that one part of boiling 
water can only dissolve five parts of sugar, and aban- 
dons three on cooling, while one part of cold water dissolves 
two parts of sugar ; and this constitutes the mother-water 
or meiasses." 

We see from the above, that if the cane contained 60 
per cent, of sugar, and only 30 per cent, of water, instead 
of 18 per cent, of sugar, and 72 per cent, of water, the 
sugar would still be in a liquid, and not in a crystalline 
form. And we have the direct evidence of Dr. Davy, who, 
during his late residence in the West Indies, made the 
experiment in the most careful manner. Dr. D. says, " It 
may be well in beginning, to consider what are the con- 
tents of the ripe sugar cane. A fresh transverse section of 
it, a thin slice, is found to be diaphonous, very like a thin 
slice of an apple, or a turnip, and homogeneous, as seen by 
the naked eye. Under the microscope it exhibits a cellular 
structure, the cells containing a transparent fluid. There 
is no appearance of crystals, nor of any opaque matter. If 
the thin slice he dried, the appearance it presents is altered. 
It is no longer homogeneous, as seen by the naked eye, or a 
common magnifying glass. Little dots of an opaque 
whitish matter are visible, protruding, as I believe, from 
the divided longitudinal tubes, and cells are seen surround- 
ing these opaque dots — cells which are transparent, and in 
which, placed in sunshine, minute glittering crystals are 



STATE IN WHICH SUGAR EXISTS IN THE CANE. 71 

observable, which, it may be inferred, are crystals of sugar, 
formed in consequence of the evaporation of the aqueous 
part of the cell juice. These observations seem to prove, 
that the saccharine matter of the cane exists in it in a state 
of solution, according to the commonly received opinion. 
This I mention particularly, because a different inference 
has been drawn by some inquirers, viz., that the saccharine 
matter is secreted in the crystalline state, in brief, as crys- 
tals of pure sugar, an inference which, it appears to me, is 
neither probable, a priori, on theoretical grounds, con- 
sidering the strong attraction sugar has for water, nor in 
agreement with the results of carefully made observations. 
I may remark, it would be extraordinary indeed if crystals 
of sugar, a substance which deliquesces in an atmosphere 
saturated with water, were found to exist in a cellular 
tissue, so abounding, so saturated with aqueous juice, as is 
that of the cane. This its powerful attraction for mois- 
ture is easily shown, by suspending, wrapped in muslin or 
thin paper, a piece of refined sugar, in a bottle to be well 
corked, in which there is a little water, in consequence of 
which the air included becomes saturated with moisture. 
In this very damp atmosphere the sugar will be found 
rapidly to deliquesce, and in a day or two to fall in drops 
into the water, and to continue so to do till the whole of 
the solid mass disappears." 

I have been thus explicit upon this subject, because it is 
desirable to prevent the erroneous idea from being enter- 
tained, that sugar exists in the cane in a crystalline form, 



72 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



and so inducing persons to have expensive additions to 
their machinery, for the purpose of extracting a substance 
which has no existence. It is easy to perceive how inicro- 
scopists have fallen into the error of supposing crystals of 
sugar to exist in the cane, as the moisture dries so 
rapidly from a thin slice that unless observed immediately 
on being separated, crystals will have formed from its 
evaporation. 

It is perfectly understood that no uncrystallizable sugar 
or melasses pre-exists in the cane, but that the whole of the 
18 or 20 per cent, of sugar existing in it is crystallizable. 
and is procurable from it by adopting the proper means > 



CHAPTER II. 



METHOD OF EXTRACTING THE LARGEST POSSIBLE AMOUNT OF JUICE 

FROM THE CANE VARIETIES OF CANE MILLS LOSS OCCASIONED 

BY IMPERFECT MACHINERY ADVANTAGES OF STEAM POWER FOR 

CANE MILLS — DIRECTIONS FOR THE PREVENTION OF ACIDITY AND 
VISCOUS FERMENTATION IN CANE JUICE. 

Having examined the state in which sugar exists in 
the cane, we come now to consider in what manner it can 
be extracted most abundantly; and on this subject I shall 
confine myself to the method usually practised of crushing 
the canes between revolving cylinders ; for although other 
methods have been advocated for extracting the sugar by 
slicing and affusion, they present difficulties which will 
probably prevent their ever being brought into practice, 
especially if the crushing mill be so improved as to extract 
as much of the juice as it has lately been found cap- 
able of doing. The hydraulic press has been proposed 
and tried but without complete success; and although 
I understand that a modification of this machine is now 
being brought into operation, it is not likely to be so effec- 
tive as the crushing mill ; and, moreover, the solid mass into 



74 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



which it compresses the megass, will be difficult to apply- 
as a manure or covering for the earth, for which, in the form 
it issues from the common mill, it is admirably adapted. 
Besides, the common method of grinding is simple, well 
understood,, and free from the complexity of manipulation 
which the other processes demand ; and although the whole 
of the juice cannot be extracted by any kind of pressure, 
it is possible, by improved cylinders and care in regulating 
their motion, to reduce the quantity remaining in the 
megass to a very small amount. This subject has attracted 
the attention of the French Colonists for some time, and 
has lately been thoroughly investigated by Dr. Mitchell of 
Trinidad, whose energy and perseverance deserve the 
grateful thanks of every one interested in this subject. 

From experiments which have been made, it is cer- 
tain that the mills commonly in use do not extract more 
than from 50 to 60 per cent, of the juice of the canes 
passed through them. Indeed, I may say, from what I 
have myself observed, that the average return scarcely 
exceeds 50 per cent, or very little more than half the saccha- 
rine matter contained in the canes ; which shows what a 
serious loss is sustained by the defective method of 
pressure alone ; and when to this we add the further loss 
occasioned by the imperfect process of manufacture, is it to 
be wondered at, that under the present system of man- 
agement, sugar estates are unprofitable. M. Daubree 
does not in the slightest degree exaggerate the loss accru- 
ing by the usual process, when he states the planter's 



VARIETIES OE CANE MILLS. 



75 



return, under the most favourable circumstances, upon 
18 per cent, sugar contained in the canes as follows : — 
" 8 per cent, left in the megass ; and of the 10 per cent, 
expressed, 5 per cent, passes into cisterns, ship's hold, and 
warehouses, as melasses, leaving only 5 per cent, to meet 
expenses." 

This agrees with what every planter of observation must 
have noticed ; for even when canes, after being fully ripe, 
are ground, giving a juice of a density equal to 12° 
Beaurne, and containing 22 per cent, of sugar, it requires 
from 12 to 14 tons of canes to give 1500 gallons of juice, 
the quantity required to produce a hhd., netting 15 cwt. in 
the English market, and therefore not yielding to the 
planter a return of more than 6 per cent, of moist musco- 
vado sugar, and that often of a very inferior quality. 

It has been proved that the ruinous loss sustained by the 
imperfect pressure of the mills in common use, can be 
reduced, by attending to the proper adjustment of the sur- 
faces of the cylinders, and by decreasing the motion to a 
regulated rate. The Marquis St. Croix, who tested mills in 
every possible way, says, — " The effectual power of cane 
mills is in exact proportion to the slowness of the revolu- 
tion of the rollers, other things being equal. My mill 
gave as the result of repeated experiments, 46 per cent., 
with a speed of 8 revolutions per minute ; while at a speed 
of %\ revolutions, it gave 70 per cent." 

Dr. Mitchell, in detailing some of his experiments on the 
same subject, says, — " I tested a windmill in Barbadoes, 



76 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



which was pointed out by several parties as one of the best, 
capable of grinding six hhds. of 40 inch truss per day. 
The velocity was 8 revolutions per minute, diameter under 
24 inches, return 45 per cent. In other words, for every 
6 hhds. of sugar made, 6 hhds. remained in the megass, 
and were lost. * * * Woodbrook vertical mill in 
Trinidad, at a speed of 10 revolutions per minute, gave 35 
per cent, of liquor. The best mill I saw in the Leeward 
Islands, was that of M. Bauscarin in Gaudaloupe. It 
gave 73 per cent., speed 3 revolutions per minute, diameter 
24 inches. On submitting the megass afterwards to a 
powerful hydraulic press, it yielded 10 per cent, more, 
making in all 83 out of the 90 per cent, contained in the 
cane. The hydraulic presses were found too expensive, and 
therefore discontinued. * * * Had this mill been 
reduced in speed to 2 or %\ revolutions per minute, with 
an increase of one inch in the diameter of the rollers, there 
can be little doubt that the megass would have been equally 
laminated, and 80 per cent, obtained, without recourse to 
the hydraulic press. Every quality required in a mill 
may thus be secured, by diminishing the velocity, and 
increasing the length of the rollers, in proportion to the 
amount of liquor required. The bearings, of course, must 
be strengthened in the same ratio. The greater the 
diameter, ceteris paribus, the less will the megass be torn." 

To show that this is not a theoretical deduction, unsup- 
ported by practice ; and to prove that the power of mills is 
not diminished with their speed, but that they are capable 



VARIETIES OF CANE MILLS. 



77 



of delivering as much juice in a given time, as mills of 
more rapid motion could do, Dr. Mitchell says, in a 
pamphlet published after the above, — " On the estate of St. 
Ange, Sinson, (Martinique,) whose establishment presents 
every applicable modern improvement, a 15 horse engine 
drives rollers 24 inches in diameter, 3 revolutions per min- 
ute, expressing 69 per cent, of juice from ratoons contain- 
ing much woody fibre, and yielding regularly 900 gallons 
per hour. Worthy Park (Jamaica) has a water wheel, 
once of great power, and a steam engine. The former, 
with 9 horse power of water, drives rollers 24 inches in 
diameter, and 62 inches long, 2 J to 2\ revolutions per 
minute, and delivers 800 gallons per hour. A 14 horse 
condensing engine (1| lbs. pressure) turns rollers 24 inches 
in diameter, and 48 inches long, at 2 \ to 2\ revolutions 
per minute, and delivers 200 gallons per hour. A mill 
giving 70 per cent., turns out the megass laminated, not 
lacerated, when the speed is from 2J to 3 revolutions per 
minute, while at double that speed, the mill will not give 60 
per cent, and tears the megass to shreds. Dr. Evans sug- 
gests rendering velocity uniform by regular feeding. This 
may be suitable to small mills, but not to leviathans that 
gorge from 8 to 10 tons per hour. Machinery of this 
kind should regulate itself." 

Mills of this improved construction are at present being 
made in this country by our engineers, but principally for 
foreigners. In Glasgow especially, this manufacture is 
carried on to a large extent by Messrs. Neilson & Co., and 



78 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



by Messrs. M/Onie & Mirrlees. The largest machines 
which I have seen are those made for Cuba by Messrs. 
M'Onie & Mirrlees. These gentlemen have now in course 
of construction a steam mill whose rollers are 32 inches in 
diameter, and nearly 7 feet in length, with an expansive 
high pressure engine of fully 60 horse power, the connecting 
gearing being arranged to regulate the motion at 2\ revo- 
lutions per minute. Some idea of the strength of this mill 
may be formed from the fact, that the wrought iron 
gudgeon of its upper roller weighs about %\ tons. During 
the early part of this year two mills of the same kind and 
construction, but somewhat smaller, having rollers 6 feet in 
length by 30 inches in diameter, with corresponding steam 
power and appurtenances, w T ere sent to Cuba by this house, 
and last year they sent out one exactly similar. From 
these mills a return of 72 per cent, of juice is obtained, 
and one of the last mentioned size is capable of taking off 
a crop of 2000 tons sugar. The cost of such an engine 
and mill, with appurtenances, is about <£2300. On Mount 
Bentinck estate, in the island of St. Vincent, a mill made 
by the same parties, having rollers 4 feet in length by 24 
inches in diameter, makes 2 revolutions per minute, and 
yields 72 per cent, of juice. This mill has now taken off 
two crops. I saw at the same establishment various mills 
with their steam engines, from 22 horse power downwards, 
and all geared to run the rollers with a similar slow motion. 
One, intended for Montrose estate, Demerara, and which 
I understand has since been erected there, is a 22 horse 



LOSS OCCASIONED BY IMPERFECT MACHINERY. 



79 



power expansive engine, with rollers 5 feet long and 28 
inches in diameter, which make 2i revolutions per minute, 
and will give from 2500 to 3000 gallons liquor per hoar. 
This machinery was accompanied by five powerful vessels, 
which are intended to clarify the whole of the cane juice by 
the waste steam from the engine, and by boilers which are 
meant to generate all the steam by the waste heat from 
the coppers' flues. The cost of such an apparatus, with 
two batteries of carron pans and ail appurtenances, com- 
plete, is, I understand, about £2500. A second, of 12 
horse power, having an expansive steam engine and gearing 
to turn the rollers at 2i revolutions per minute, was 
intended for " Tulloch " estate, Jamaica, and the others, 
besides being geared to revolve at the same slow rate, had 
also, in many cases, the additional apparatus for clarifying 
by the engine's waste steam, and for generating all the 
steam by boilers placed at the end of the coppers. These 
last mentioned improvements, I am informed, have been 
carried out on a great number of estates by Messrs. M'Onie 
£c Mirrlees, during the last four years, particularly in the 
island of St. Croix. 

It is evident, from what I have stated and quoted, that 
it is in the power of the planter, by making the requisite 
alterations in the machinery for crushing canes, to extract 
50 per cent, more sugar than is now done; or, in other 
words, every estate now making 100 tons of sugar loses 
50 tons in the megass — one third of a crop which has been 
brought to maturity at a heavy expense, and the proceeds of 



80 MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 

which, if brought into the market, instead of being wasted 
in the niegass, would, even if manufactured in the usual 
faulty manner, in a short time be sufficient for the purchase 
of a steam engine and improved mill, and so save the 
necessity of embarking further capital. The average 
yearly loss of sugar in the West Indies, from this source 
alone, is supposed to amount to 70,000 tons. 

Many planters are impressed with the idea, that wind is 
the most economical power which can be applied for driving 
cane mills, whereas the reverse is the case ; for not only is 
it the most unmanageable force which could be used, but it is 
so uncertain, that great delay and loss are often experienced, 
either from a deficiency of wind, or from its being so 
boisterous and squally as to be dangerous; and, indeed, 
even when a fresh breeze does prevail, and the planter 
congratulates himself upon the rapidity with which his 
work progresses, he is actually, though unwittingly, the 
greater loser, because, as we have seen above, his loss of 
juice is greater in an exact ratio as the mill revolves more 
rapidly. Mr. Daubree, in alluding to this circumstance, 
remarks,— " Sometimes the breeze is so violent, that the 
mill is fed with difficulty, and liquor overflows on all sides. 
The unsuspecting planter congratulates himself on his 
good luck, forgetting that his canes are less pressed in 
proportion to the increased velocity, and that in fact he is 
then losing perhaps 10 per cent, more than usual." 

The irregular velocity of the windmill renders it much 
inferior to any other description of mill for crushing canes. 



ADVANTAGES OF STEAM POWER FOR CANE MILLS. 



SI 



This fact has been repeatedly shown by comparative results, 
carefully noted by different persons. Amongst others, I 
will instance the returns obtained by M. Dapuis from 44 
mills in Guadaloupe. 

Water power averaged 61*8 per cent., animal power 
58*5 per cent., steam power 60*9 per cent., wind power 
56*4 per cent. These results were obtained from the best 
constructed mills of that island, and do not represent the 
inferior windmills, the return from which, M. Daubree 
.states, does not exceed 50 per cent. 

Water power exists only in some few favoured localities, 
and is almost unknown in the smaller islands; and 
although it is at once economical, powerful, and easily 
regulated, the supply is often irregular, and, in seasons of 
drought, cut off either totally or partially, and for that 
reason is liable to one of the same objections as wind 
power, viz., that it cannot always be made available. 

Of animal power I shall not speak, as no one is likely to 
defend such a rude and barbarous process, and which can 
never be rendered so economical as steam. 

The steam engine is far superior to any other motive 
power in economy, force, regularity of action, independence 
of all local influences which affect other motions, the per- 
fect control under which it can be maintained, the ease 
with which it can be directed, and its readiness of adapta- 
tion to any purpose for which it may be required, the 
waste steam also being useful for many purposes in the 
manufactory, where elevated temperatures are necessary. 



82 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR, 



The rollers should always be disposed horizontally, an 
arrangement which possesses great advantage over the 
vertical rollers in the ease and regularity of feeding, and in 
the equable wear of the surface; nevertheless objections 
have been raised to it, which have, however, been success- 
fully combated. Dr. Evans says, " One evil attending the 
mill composed of three horizontal rollers is, the re-absorp- 
tion of a part of the cane juice, by the squeezed but 
spongy megass. Another and much greater one is, the 
loss of power caused by the oblique direction of the crush- 
ing force, and the inordinate amount of friction." 

These remarks Dr. Mitchell ably controverts as follows : 
— u Re-absorption certainly takes place, but to a most 
trifling degree, when the motion is slow, but is much more 
than counterbalanced by the increased facility of feeding. 
The second is a chimera, for the rollers, however placed, 
so they be parallel, must lay hold of the cane, and deliver 
it at a tangent, to the force developed at their periphery. 
Friction has equally little to do with the position of the 
rollers. The conclusions of Rennie and Morin are, First, 
Friction is simply as the pressure without regard to surface, 
time, or velocity. Second, Its amount is independent, for 
one and the same body of the extent of surface of contact ; 
hence it is neither increased by turning vertical rollers into 
horizontal, nor by lengthening the latter, while the pressure 
remains equal," &c. &c. 

In the construction of rollers for a horizontal mill, two 
things should be borne in mind. First, That the length 



CONSTRUCTION OF CANE MILLS. 



83 



should be sufficient to allow a large number of canes to be 
passed through them at once, so as to ensure a rapid yield 
of juice, conjointly with slowness of motion. Second, 
That the diameter of the rollers should be sufficient to 
allow the canes to be taken hold of readily, without the 
necessity of grooving, and to ensure the more perfect 
pressure and lamination of the canes ; because, in rollers of 
large diameter, the points of pressure not being so acute as 
in smaller ones, the canes are more perfectly laminated, 
and the megass is delivered dry, without being reduced to 
fragments. The continuous sheet in which it is delivered, 
tends also to prevent re-absorption, as by a little mechani- 
cal arrangement, it can be made more immediately to leave 
its contact with the other roller, while the uninterrupted 
pressure prevents any of the juice passing over the upper 
surface of the roller along with it. In a powerful mill, 
with horizontal cylinders of large diameter, revolving 
slowly, the megass ought to be delivered like a sheet of 
thick pasteboard, and I have no doubt in that case, that 
80 per cent, of juice would be readily obtained from canes 
of an average quality, leaving only 10 per cent, in the 
megass, a quantity so small as not to be sensibly appreci- 
able, and from which a powerful hydraulic press would get 
very little more ; so that, assuming the cane to contain 18 
per cent, of sugar, such a mill would extract 16 per cent, 
instead of the 10 per cent, usually obtained, leaving only 2 
per cent, in the megass, a quantity so small as not to 
warrant the expense of machinery for its extraction. But 



84 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



even this may be rendered profitable by the aid of a well 
contrived machine for affusion and repressure, for the pur- 
pose of fermentation and conversion into rum, along with 
the uncrystallizable melasses. Rollers such as described 
would vary from four feet in length for small mills, to six feet 
in powerful ones, and the diameter should never be under 
25 inches, although 30 inches would be preferable, as such 
a mill would feed more easily and laminate more perfectly, 
In calculating the velocity with which a roller should revolve, 
its diameter must be considered, as the number of revolu- 
tions per minute becomes a most indefinite term when 
applied indiscriminately to rollers of different diameters. 
Thus if w^e suppose two rollers of 24 and 30 inches respec- 
tive diameter, to be each making two revolutions per 
minute, the surface or periphery of the smaller would be 
travelling only 12 feet, while that of the larger would be 
going at the rate of 15 feet per minute. The speed should 
never exceed 15 feet per minute, or two revolutions of a 
cylinder of 30 inches diameter. 

It is evident that when the size of the cylinders is in- 
creased, a greater force is required to set them in motion, and 
overcome the immensely increased resistance of the canes. 
This is accomplished by augmenting the size of the gear- 
ing wheels in proportion to the driving pinions, or by 
introducing another wheel and pinion, which has the 
double effect of increasing power and diminishing motion. 
Those which I have lately seen have had the gearing w r heels 
increased in size to produce the required effect. It is 



CONSTRUCTION 0! CANE MILLS. 



85 



possible to alter the construction of the gearing wheels. 
&c 3 of the rollers of wind mills, (when the rollers are 
horizontal,) so as very much to increase the yielding of 
juice, by decreasing the velocity of the rollers ; but the 
speed could not be regulated with exactness from the 
irregularity of the motive power. The frame-work, 
gudgeons, and wheels must also be made more massive 
than usual, to enable them to resist the additional force 
which would be developed. Every part of the mill with 
which the cane-juice comes in contact, and all spouts and 
strainers, should be formed of metal, as wood absorbs a 
portion of the liquid, which becomes acid, and communi- 
cates the taint to every succeeding portion with which it 
comes into contact. 



CHAPTER III. 



PROPER METHOD OF CUTTING CANES — IMPURITIES OE CANE-JUICE 

DESCRIBED — SOLUBLE SALTS AZOTISED COMPOUNDS NON-AZO- 

TISED VEGETABLE PROXIMATE PRINCIPLES* — MATIERE DELIQUES- 
CENTE OF HERVEY — IMPURITIES WHICH CAN BE REMOVED ME- 
CHANICALLY. 

I 

Canes should always be cut as close to the earth as 
possible, both on account of the superiority of the shoots 
which will in that case spring for ratoons, and because the 
lower joints of the canes are the richest in saccharine 
matter. The upper joints should be unsparingly cut off 
with the top, as they not only contain little sugar, but 
their juice abounds more in soluble salts, than that of the 
more mature portion of the cane, and therefore is pro- 
ductive of mischief during the process of manufacture. 
For the latter reason all young shoots and leaves should be 
carefully removed from the canes before they are brought 
to the mill. 

The impurities contained in cane-juice are the con- 
tents of the sap vessels which are ruptured by the pres- 
sure, and which become thus mingled with the cell-juice. 



THE IMPURITIES OF THE CANE- JUICE DESCRIBED. 



ST 



which, per se, is pure sugar and water, and fragments 
of the solid portion of the cane, separated by the same 
cause. They may be briefly classed as, First, Soluble salts, 
composed commonly of chlorides of sodium and potassium, 
sulphates of potash and lime, bisilicate of potash and 
alumina, &c. Second, Azotised compounds, concerning 
the exact varieties of which much difference of opinion 
exists among scientific persons. Third, Non-azotised vege- 
table proximate principles. Fourth, A highly deliques- 
cent substance, observed and described by Hervey. Fifth, 
Particles of the solid structure of the cane, which have 
been separated by the force of the pressure employed in 
procuring the juice, and which consist of the ligneous 
matter composing the cellular and vascular tissues, and 
portions of the rind, particles of chlorophylie, (or the 
green colouring matter of the buds and leaves which is 
diffused through the structure of the cane near its rind or 
surface,) and of a kind of wax called by the French chem- 
ists, cerosie or cerosine. 

The quantity of saline matter varies much in canes 
grown in different localities, and abounds most in 
those which are over-manured, or grown in soils con- 
taining much potash or soda, which substances, although 
they stimulate the rapid vegetation of the cane, exert 
an injurious influence on the conversion of its juice 
into sugar, from the excess in which they exist in it. 
Canes grown under such circumstances are always soft and 
watery, delicate in their structure, apt to lodge and rot 



88 MANUFACTURE CF SUGAR. 

upon the ground, never ripen kindly, are sooner affected by 
changes of season, do not endure drought, but begin at 
the same time to wither at the top, and decay at the root , 
and their juices contain less saccharine matter than those 
of canes which are less forced in their growth, and whose 
structure is more fully and firmly developed ; these rank- 
watery canes, always make bad sugar, and are familiarly 
termed by the negroes in some of the i-- • mils. " washy 
canes/' This may account for the prejudice which ha? 
arisen against the use of guano as a manure, m conse- 
quence of the inferior quality of the sugar produced from 
canes which have been manured with it, and the rapidity 
with which the tops wither when the weather becomes dry. 

We may also notice, that in canes which are grown 
in situations where they are exposed to the influence of 
the sea spray, very rapid changes occur on every altera- 
tion of weather. Canes so circumstanced are always the 
first to suffer from drought, and revive the most rapidly 
after a shower. I have been led to suppose that this does 
not altogether arise from the excess of saline matter in the 
soil, but- from an incrustation of salt which, during dry 
:lier, is deposited on the leaves, and by obstructing 
their pores, produces an unhealthy action in the plant : and 
that every shower which falls, not only frees it from this 
obstruction, but washes down a fertilizing substance to the 
roots, and stimulates the cane to more rapid growth, 
Canes produced in such localities always contain an excess 
of chloride of sodium, and their juices make a sugar inferior 



SOLUBLE SALTS IN THE SUGAR CANE. 89 

to that procured from canes grown more inland. The 
quantity of melasses is always greater, and the sugar more 
deliquescent than usual; the greater part of the salts drain 
off with the melasses, but there is always a portion adher- 
ing with the colouring matter to the crystals, and this 
causes deliquescence. I have seen sugar, on the wind- 
ward coast of Barbadoes, manufactured from such canes, 
the melasses from w T hich was as salt as if it had been mixed 
with strong brine. 

These saline constituents being soluble, and forming 
highly deliquescent compounds, cannot be extracted from 
the cane-juice, but pass off in the melasses, they exert an 
injurious influence upon the sugar, and the process of 
manufacture should therefore be as rapid as possible, to 
prevent the ill effects of prolonged contact with them. In 
the juices of good canes they exist in very minute quanti- 
ties, averaging from 2 to 4 parts in 1000. Hervey thus 
describes their action : — " Saccharine juices always contain 
a greater or less quantity of salts, and it is well known 
that sea salt combines with cane sugar, giving rise to a 
deliquescent compound, containing 6 parts of sugar for 1 
part of salts, and this remains in the melasses in the state 
of uncrystallized syrup. But the chloride of sodium is not 
the only salt which can combine with sugar, and exercise 
an injurious action on crystallization. This process is 
impeded by various salts. Of these the halogenous occupy 
the first rank. Even at the temperature of striking, the 
carbonates of potash and soda react on sugar, rendering 



90 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



the syrup high coloured and almost uncrystailizable. ,; Dr. 
Evans, in describing the saline constituents of cane-juice, 
remarks : — ee I have already stated, on the authority of 
Peligot, who has given much attention to this subject, 
that one part of chloride of sodium will combine with 
nearly six times its bulk of sugar, and form a deliquescent 
compound which is capable of liquifying another portion of 
sugar equal to itself in bulk. It is also very probable that 
the other saline constituents may likewise form similar 
combinations. Their presence therefore must always be 
considered injurious. " There is no means of removing 
these saline substances from cane-juice when once infused 
in it; therefore, as I have before observed, the utmost 
rapidity of manufacture is necessary to limit their dele- 
terious action as much as possible, particularly when they 
exist in excess. 

The azotised substances contained in cane-juice consist 
of some compounds of proteine, which, although they 
approach nearly to the appearance and properties of the 
recognised varieties which exist in other vegetables, are not 
all similarly acted on by the usual re-agents, and from this 
circumstance, much difference of opinion has existed among 
the various persons who have examined them. One of the 
most important, or, at least, the most prominent of these 
compounds, is a substance resembling vegetable albumen, 
and, like it, readily coagulated by heat or infusion 
of tannin, but which does not undergo any change, or, 
at least, any instantaneous change, when exposed to the 



AZOTISED COMPOUNDS IN THE SUGAR CANE. 



91 



action of the usual tests, nitric acid, bi-chloride of mer- 
cury, and creosote. It is, however, sufficient for the sugar 
manufacturer to know, that it can be coagulated by the 
agency of heat, and removed by nitration, and it will pro- 
bably be designated albumen, till some more definite appel- 
lation is bestowed upon it. I should, with all diffidence, 
however, distinguish it as " cane albumen," as it appears 
to be peculiar to that particular plant. Particles of fibrine 
and gluten are also detected in fresh cane-juice. The 
latter, no doubt, forms the " mateire globulaire" of Peligot, 
who says that it does not exist in the fresh cut cane, but is 
rapidly developed in the newly expressed juice. It pos- 
sesses the power of immediately generating viscous fer- 
mentation, but such power is destroyed by raising the 
temperature of the juice to 160° F. Dr. Davy, in describ- 
ing the appearance of fresh juice, says, — "However care- 
fully expressed, it is never transparent, it is turbid in a 
slight degree, and coloured. If viewed under the micro- 
scope with a high power, innumerable granules will be 
seen floating in the fluid, in diameter varying from the 
ten thousandth to the fifteen thousandth parts of an inch. 
By filtration through bibulous paper, it may be made 
transparent, or nearly so, and most of these granules 
separated. The matter of these particles consists, I 
believe, chiefly of the nature of gluten, and, like gluten, has 
the power of exciting fermentation, as I have ascertained 
by various experiments made both on the substance pro- 
cured by the filtration of the freshly expressed juice, and 



92 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



on some sent me by my friend Mr. Best, from " Black- 
rnans," found adhering to the gutter by which the juice 
was conveyed from the mill, and which, after having been 
kept nearly twelve months, still retained the qualities of a 
ferment." This substance is observed by every one 
employed in sugar manufacture. It adheres to the sieves, 
pipes, and gutters through which the cold juice passes, is 
slimy to the touch, and, when examined closely, appears in 
globular particles, which are, no doubt, aggregates of 
smaller ones, like the roe of a fish. These particles can be 
removed by filtration, as they are insoluble, or nearly so, 
in water; but as gluten is dissolved by alkaline lyes, it 
should be removed before the addition of lime. 

Caseine exists in cane-juice in a soluble form, and is not 
like albumen coagulable by heat. In order to effect its 
coagulation, a little lime must be used, care being taken 
not to use it in excess. In treating of this substance, Dr. 
Evans remarks, — " When cane-juice, which has been 
already boiled and filtered, is submitted to the action of 
heat a second time, the flocculent particles which separated 
from the liquid during the first ebullition, are not now 
observed, but in place of them a thin film is seen to form 
on the surface. A similar effect is produced on all liquids 
which contain caseine in solution. We have a familiar 
instance of this in boiling milk. It has been already 
stated, that caseine is one of the proteine compounds 
found in cane-juice, in which it is held in solution by the 
presence of a vegetable acid, or acid salt, in the same way 



NON-AZOTISED VEGETABLE PROXIMATE PRINCIPLES. 



93 



as it is found combined in the juice of the grape. As 
caseine cannot be separated from its solutions by heat 
alone, it is evident that when this agent is the only one to 
the action of which cane-juice has been submitted, the 
caseine must still remain dissolved in its original quantity. 
Syrups prepared from cane-juice thus treated, undergo a 
partial crystallization only, and are very much disposed to 
run into one or more of the varieties of fermentation just 
alluded to. Boiled cane-juice likewise changes its chem- 
ical character with great rapidity, the three varieties of 
fermentation taking place in it simultaneously. But while 
the viscous and lactic acid fermentations predominated, as 
we have seen, in the juice which has not been exposed to 
heat, this viscous fermentation is the one which is the most 
active. Caseine is, as has been already stated, insoluble in 
pure water, but when the water has been acidulated by the 
addition of any of the vegetable acids or acid salts, or when 
it is rendered alkaline by a small quantity of potash, soda, 
or hme, it becomes, in both cases, a solvent of this prin- 
ciple. In the one it is separated from its solution by the 
addition of an acid ; in the other by that of an alkali, 
provided neither be in excess, otherwise it is first precipi- 
tated, and afterwards re-dissolved. Vie can thus explain 
the necessity for the employment of lime in the defecation 
or clarification of cane-juice.^ 

The non-azotised vegetable proximate principles, except 
cane-sugar, exist in a very small quantity in the fresh 
juice, but rapidly increase at the expense of the sugar 



94 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



in solution, which, by fermentation, is quickly converted 
into various other substances, as glucose, gum, vinegar, 
alcohol, &c. &c. This also shows the necessity of imme- 
diate defecation. Dr. Evans says, that ripe healthy canes 
contain from one to four parts in a thousand of dextrine ; 
and Dr. Davy says, he invariably detected starch in the 
matter separated from the fresh juice by filtration, using 
iodine as a test, and aided by the microscope. 

Of the substance designated by Hervey, " matiere deli- 
quescente," I shall give his own description. He says, — ■ 
" It is soluble in water, neither sweet nor salt, leaving no 
ashes on incineration. We are inclined to think that in 
manufacturing on a large scale, it may play an important 
part in the production of melasses, that is, if it does not 
combine with the sugar, it tends naturally to augment the 
viscosity of the crystallizations from the melasses. The 
substance is colourless when obtained by evaporation in 
vacuo, or at a low temperature, but becomes coloured by the 
action of heat. Its aqueous solution offers two distinguish- 
ing characteristics : it is precipitated by tannin, and ab- 
sorbed by pure animal charcoal, in such a manner that 
cold water no longer removes." Dr. Evans says of it, — 
" When a portion of sugar cane, cut into thin slices and 
dried, is infused in cold alcohol, a peculiar substance 
remains in solution, which is obtained on evaporation. It 
is neither sweet nor salt to the taste, is uncrystallizable, 
and highly deliquescent. It is the f matiere deliquescente' 
of Hervey. Its composition is unknown." 



IMPURITIES WHICH CAN BE REMOVED MECHANICALLY. 95 



The grosser particles of ligneous matter, wax, &c, 
ought, if possible, to be removed by metallic strainers of 
various degrees of fineness, which should be continually 
shifted and purified, to prevent any formation of acidity, 
or accumulation of a glutinous ferment. 



CHAPTER IV. 



improvements arising from the efforts to render the 
production of sugar from beet- root profitable — dr, 
Mitchell's experiments on heating canes to prevent the 
development of the fermentative action in the juice 
after expression. 

The efforts made by the French to render the production 
of sugar from beet-root profitable, called forth a vast 
amount of scientific research, and adaptative ingenuity. 
Among other successful experimenters, M. de Dombasle, 
who, acting on the principle laid down by Liebig, of the pro- 
perty of organic substances to pass into a state of fermen- 
tation and decay, in contact with atmospheric air, being 
annihilated in all cases, by heating to the boiling point, 
has succeeded in obtaining the sugar by the process of cold 
maceration, after first destroying the vitality of the beet 
by ebullition. 

Dr. Mitchell, carrying out this suggestion further, has 
lately made some experiments with canes, by plunging them 
into boiling liquids, previous to the extraction of the juice, 
and thus destroying the vitality of the incipient " matiere 



dr autchell's experiments ox heating canes, 



97 



giobulaire" and coagulating the albuminous substance in 
the tissue of the cane, so as to prevent its expression along 
with the juice. The results of these experiments I shall 
give in his own words. He premises, by saying, that the 
experiments were made at TToodbrook mill in Trinidad : 
and, previous to these experiments, the mill was washed 
and sprinkled with lime water, and some of the canes 
which had been heated were passed through it. " The 
liquor obtained was colourless, full of floating fecuke. 
These immediately subsided, and the residue, boiled down 
without skimming, furnished a white sugar, without being 
submitted to any ulterior operation. Some of the liquor 
kept till next morning (18 hours) perfectly neutral, but 
towards noon became acid and ropy. The proportions of 
liquor and rnegass were changed. The former diminished 
in quantity, but notably increased in density ; the latter 
gained in weight and tenacity to an unexpected degree. * 
* * On a second trial, a quantity of canes were heated, 
by being dipped in the grand copper for 2| minutes. 
They were ground off 15 hours afterwards, being at that 
time 6 days cut. The liquor was received in mill tubs, 
one of which was particularly foul, having served as a recep- 
tacle for trash from the mill bed. This communicated a 
certain degree of acidity to the whole. Five wine gallons of 
this liquor, weighing 45 lbs., were taken and boiled down. 
T\ hen the first scum was removed, the remainder appeared 
like clarified syrup. No lime or other temper was used, 
and the return was 9 lbs. 8 oz., or more than 21 per cent. 

H 



98 



3IAXUFACTLKE OF SUGAR. 



The quality of the sugar, now that it has drained, appears 
equal to that produced in Guadaloupe, by twice passing 
through animal charcoal, and boilins: in vacuo. The 
meksses, or rather syrup of drainage, appeared nearly equal 
to that from which the sugar crystallized. Under the 
microscope, the crystals were not rhomboidal as usual, 
but cubes, having their edges replaced by planes, crystals, 
pure, with sharp, well-defined edges, showing that a perfect 
sugar may be obtained, without having recourse to lime. 
This point also furnishes matter for grave consideration, 
for every pound of lime, used in defecation, immediately 
unites with six pounds of sugar, forming saccharate of lime, 
coagulating by heat, and rejected as skimmings, but not 
till its influence has destroyed the crystallizing power of an 
equal quantity of sugar, effecting a total loss of fourteen 
pounds. On comparing the liquor from heated canes, 
with that in its ordinary state, the result was as follows : 
— Twelve lbs. of the former, presenting the usual white 
appearance, without the same tendency to subside immedi- 
ately, were tempered with three tea-spoonsful of milk of 
lime. Ten minutes were allowed for subsidence. On apply- 
ing heat, the liquor threw up a scum, and then boiled down 
with rapidity, not, however, without the occasional appear- 
ance of impurities on the surface, probably saccharate of 
lime. The return was 36*8 oz., or 19*15 per cent. Twelve 
lbs. of ordinary liquor, from similar canes, exposed imme- 
diately afterwards, were tempered hot, required nine tea- 
spoonsful of milk of lime, were troublesome to skim, and 



dr. Mitchell's experiments ox heating canes, 99 



returned 25*7 oz., or 13*9 per cent. Of these two, the 
heavier sugar was much the finer, and cured with more 
facility. The drainage, in taste and smell, resembled syrup 
more than melasses, and is now depositing crystals equal 
in quality to the original sugar. During this trial it was 
remarked, that while ordinary liquor was brightened by a 
due addition of lime, that from the heated cane became 
tinged with green, and this shade extended to the sugar ; the 
alkali had no doubt dissolved and liberated chlorophylle, 
previously fixed by heat, among the coagulable constituents. 
Two thousand lbs. of cane were next taken, and equally 
divided. One half was heated, and on being passed through 
the mill, yielded 63 lbs. of liquor, and 37 lbs. megass. 
Thirty-two lbs. of this juice gave 93 oz. saccharine 
matter, or rather more than 18 per cent. It is to be here 
observed that the original weight, 32 lbs., includes that of ail 
the feculse, separated by lime. Had the per centage been 
taken on clarified liquor, it would have been much higher. 
On adding the lime, the green tinge was more strongly 
marked than in the preceding case, but it greatly 
diminished with the drainage. The unheated portion of 
the canes gave 68 lbs. liquor, and 32 lbs. megass, being a 
difference in fuel of 16 per cent, in favour of the heated 
cane. The fibre of the latter becomes tenacious, tears with 
difficulty, and when the cane was sound, fell from the mill 
in one uninterrupted ribband, being fit for fuel in a few 
hours ; while the ordinary megass, from which 68 per cent, 
liquor had been extracted, was much more torn, and only fit 



100 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



for burning in three or four days. There is no increased 
expenditure of fuel in thus heating the cane. It forms the 
first step in evaporation, and clarifies the liquor before it is 
exposed to atmospheric action, and the irruption of the 
azotised elements into the cells. The excess of heat escap- 
ing from the crushing cane, carries with it the surrounding 
moisture, and the fibre is immediately dried. . * * * 
In testing the density of the respective liquors, it was 
found, that while the ordinary mill liquor marked 10°,. 
the other marked 11° Beaume. * * * The micro- 
scope shows no alteration in the appearance of the cells, 
after exposure to elevated temperature, and indicates the 
probability, that while, by the action of heat, many of the 
unelaborated constituents of the sap are fixed in the fibrous 
tissue, the cells themselves are ruptured, and pour forth,, 
under the action of the mill, a nearly pure secretion, dense 
in proportion to the maturity of the plant. The purity of 
the liquor will simplify the boiling-house arrangements, 
and the present regiment of clarifiers and coppers be 
replaced by flat pans commensurate to the work required/' 
It is evident from the result of these experiments, that 
by exposing the cane to a temperature equal to that of 
boiling water, the albumen and chlorophylle become coag- 
ulated, and the vitality of the other proteine compounds is 
destroyed or arrested while yet in the cane. The megass 
becomes sensibly increased in weight and tenacity, by the 
fixing of these substances in the fibrous tissue; and the 
evaporation of moisture, by the escape of heat during 



DR MITCHELLS EXPERIMENTS ON HEATING CANES. 101 



the act of crushing, renders the juice more dense, and 
reduces the amount of subsequent evaporation. It is 
therefore a question, whether the mechanical arrangement 
for heating the canes can be sufficiently simplified so as 
to present no inconvenience more formidable than the 
arrangement of the clarifying vessels, and complex method 
necessary for separating the impurities, after expressing the 
juice in the ordinary way. I am of opinion, that the 
heating of the canes before grinding would not prove an 
insuperable difficulty, particularly if the agency of steam 
could be employed. Exposing the canes for a few minutes 
to a high degree of heat in a steam chest or tube, would 
probably be attended with more decided advantage, and 
could be more rapidly and economically effected, than by 
immersion in a boiling liquid. From some conversation I 
have had with an experienced engineer in this country, I 
am inclined to think this could be done without difficulty ; 
and in Demerara, where the canes are conveyed to the 
mill in iron punts, which could be fitted with covers suffi- 
ciently steam-tight, it would be easy to effect this object, 
by a steam pipe from the boiler, which could be affixed to 
the punt, and disconnected at pleasure. 

The subject presents matter for serious consideration to 
those who are interested in it, and I have no doubt, if the 
system were carried into effect, it would realize all the advan- 
tages proposed by its adoption, being based on sonnd reason- 
ing, and the results of the experiments already made, having 
proved successful, even under unfavourable circumstances. 



CHAPTER V. 



SIMPLE METHODS OF DEFECATING CANE- JUICE — METHOD OF DEFECA- 
TION WITHOUT ANIMAL CHARCOAL — METHOD OF USING ANIMAL 
CHARCOAL — VARIETIES OF CHARCOAL FILTERS. 

I shall now proceed to describe the most simple and 
perfect methods of defecation, and the apparatus necessary 
for performing the operation, premising, that the success 
of any plan for defecating cane-juice, depends upon the 
rapidity of its action. 

Two methods present themselves as the most simple and 
certain, the first being accomplished by the defecating agency 
of " Tannate of lime/ ; and double nitration through calico 
niters \ and the second, by filtration through animal char- 
coal after defecating with lime alone. To perform the first 
process effectually, double receivers or clarifiers are required, 
the juice being filtered from the first into the second, and 
again filtered before passing into the evaporating vessels. 
As it would be most convenient to apply heat to these vessels 
by steam coils or worms, I shall consider, in the process 
to be described, that the canes have been ground in a mill 
with horizontal rollers, driven by steam power, with a boiler 



METHOD OF DEFECATION WITHOUT ANIMAL CHARCOAL. 103 

of sufficient size to supply the requisite steam for heating 
the defecating vessels. The arrangement could, under 
other circumstances, be modified according to convenience 
or necessity. 

The first and most important object, is to raise the 
temperature of the juice, after its expression, to the boiling 
point as rapidly as possible, and so prevent the tendency 
to injury from atmospheric influence, and destroy or 
arrest the action of the glutinous ferment, or "niatiere 
globulaire," which becomes developed immediately after 
expression, and is only destroyed by exposure to an 
elevated temperature. It would be well, if it could be done 
conveniently, to have the mill bed, upon which the juice 
first falls, constructed with a double bottom of strong- 
boiler plates, within which high pressure steam could be 
admitted at pleasure, by a cock from the boiler ; this would 
not only assist in heating the juice at once, but would pre- 
vent the accumulation of any acid or ferment in the mill 
itself, a circumstance which occurs to a certain degree even 
in those mills w r hich are most carefully cleansed, and to a 
most injurious extent in others which are not. I believe 
that this plan has been tried in one of the French colonies. 
It is open to the objection, that the framework of the mill 
might be distorted, by the expansion of the lower portion, 
from exposure to a high temperature ; but this might be 
remedied by having a false double bottom unconnected 
with the frame of the mill ; and perhaps it would be advan- 
tageous if this was made of copper. Double metallic 



104 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



strainers, with meshes of different degrees of fineness, 
should be placed in such a position, that the liquor would 
pass through them immediately after leaving the rollers, 
and so constructed that they could be readily and speedily 
removed for the purpose of cleansing. They should also 
be so arranged, that a clean set could be inserted above or 
below those which were becoming choked, before their 
removal. These strainers ought to be made entirely of 
metal, and no wood used in the frames, as it absorbs a por- 
tion of the juice, and cannot be kept free from acidity. By 
this means all the coarser impurities from the juice will be 
removed before it passes into the clarifiers. The number 
of clarifiers should be regulated by the power of the mill, 
or the amount of work required from it, and they should 
be placed as close to it as possible, to prevent the injury 
which results from the passage of the juice through long 
pipes or gutters, often coated with glutinous ferment, 
Each clarifier or defecator should be capable of containing 
from 300 to 600 gallons, according to the scale of the 
works, and should have a second vessel of similar capacity, 
and with the same appliances for heating the juice, placed 
upon such a level, that the liquor can be filtered from the 
first into it. On the liquor flowing from the mill into the 
first clarifier, it should, as quickly as possible, be heated to 
ebullition, which will cause the coagulation of the albumen 
in the meshes of which, the particles of chlorophylle, and 
the smaller insoluble impurities which have escaped the 
strainers, will be entangled and enveloped. After being 



METHOD OF DEFECATION WITHOUT ANIMAL CHARCOAL. lOo 

made to boil smartly for a few minutes, and any scum which 
may appear removed, the heat should be withdrawn, 
and the liquid passed through calico filters into the next 
vessel. No lime or other temper should be used during 
the first operation, as lime has the effect of redissolving a 
portion of the albumen, which does not reappear till the 
liquor becomes more concentrated by the increased heat, and 
the lime would also liberate a portion of the chiorophylle, 
and communicate a green tinge to the liquor. 

By the process just described, the liquor will have been 
freed from its insoluble and albuminous impurities, and 
will then contain " caseine/' the " matiere deliquescente," 
and the soluble salts. In order to separate the " matiere 
deliquescente," an infusion of tannin must be used, which 
can easily be prepared from nutgalls. Dr. Evans gives 
the following simple directions for preparing it : — " To 
two ounces of nutgalls, finely bruised, add half a-gallon of 
boiling water : infuse for VZ hours, and strain/" The above 
quantity the Doctor describes as sufficient for 400 gallons 
of juice, but the exact amount can be best determined by 
practice. I have found a less quantity enough for produc- 
ing a sufficient coagulation in 500 gallons. Before adding 
the infusion of tannin to the liquor, the latter should be 
accurately neutralized by milk of lime, using litmus paper 
as the test. By this means the coagulation of the caseine 
will be effected, after which, the infusion of galls must be 
added, which will cause the coagulation of the cc matiere 
deliquescente," leaving in a state of solution, in the liquor. 



106 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



only the sugar, and soluble salts of potash and soda. If 
any excess of acid appear after the addition of tannin, it 
must again be accurately neutralized by lime, and the 
liquid brought to ebullition. It must then be immediately 
passed through calico filters, and conveyed to the evapora- 
tors as rapidly as possible, when the more quickly it is 
converted into sugar, the less will be the loss sustained by 
contact with the soluble salts, for the removal of which 
there is no convenient process. 

The second method of defecation is exceedingly simple, 
and requires only a single set of clarifiers ; but the liquor 
must be afterwards filtered through animal charcoal. The 
cane-juice, after flowing from the mill through strainers, as 
in the former method, should be immediately brought to 
ebullition, and after smartly boiling for a couple of minutes, 
and removing all the scum which rises, the liquor should 
be accurately neutralized with milk of lime, which has the 
effect of coagulating the caseine, but at the same time redis- 
solves a portion of the albumen and chlorophylle, and if 
at all in excess, forms a saccharate of liine, with a por- 
tion of the sugar. These injurious consequences, however, 
are all obviated by filtration through animal charcoal, 
which retains the organic impurities, and decomposing the 
saccharate of lime, sets free the sugar, which passes through 
nearly in a state of purity, w T hile the lime is retained in the 
filters. After this process, the liquor, as before, contains 
only the sugar and the soluble salts of soda and potash, 
and should at once be conveyed to the evaporating vessels. 



METHOD OF USING ANIMAL CHARCOAL. 



107 



Some persons think it unnecessary to pass the liquor 
through the charcoal filters, until it has been submitted to 
the process of evaporation, and has acquired the density at 
which it is proper to transfer it to the vacuum pan, or 
otherwise finish the concentration at a low temperature; 
but there can be no doubt it ought to be passed through 
the charcoal on leaving the clarifier, after being first freed 
from its insoluble impurities by calico filters, as otherwise 
a loss is sustained during the process of evaporation, from 
the scum thrown up, a portion of which consists of sugar, 
combined with lime, which becomes gradually insoluble 
from the increased heat to which it is exposed in the 
evaporators, and is rejected as skimmings. 

By either of the plans proposed, the labour of skimming 
during the process of evaporation is rendered unnecessary, 
as the solution of sugar and water is nearly pure, and will 
throw up no scum. It may be objected to the success of 
the first process of defecation, without the use of animal 
charcoal, that the separation of the albumen will not be 
complete, as the very dilute state in which it exists in cane- 
juice requires a greater degree of heat than 212° F. for its 
perfect coagulation. This supposition is very doubtful, 
but even if there should be any left in solution, after being 
exposed to that temperature and to contact with infusion 
of tannin, the quantity must be very small, and not likely 
to be productive of injury. Many other methods of defe- 
cation have been proposed as substitutes for the usual im- 
perfect one. Dr. Evans describes nine different modes, 



108 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



but of these, the two most efficacious are dangerous from 
poisonous ingredients being used, and would therefore 
be improper to be intrusted to careless persons. There 
are also several patented processes, but their success is 
as yet undetermined, and they are open to similar objec- 
tions. The niters generally employed and recommended 
are Taylor's bag filters, which have long been used in the 
refineries in this country; but a much more simple and 
equally effective method is used by the French, both 
in the beet-root sugar factories, and also in the sugar 
colonies. It is thus described by Dumas : — "In a large 
box are placed vertically a score of flat cotton sacks, kept 
distended by a slight wicker frame/'" (a spiral copper wire 
would answer this purpose and be more easily kept clean,) 
" the liquor to be filtered is poured at once into the open 
space between and around the sacks, so that filtration, con- 
trary to what happens in Taylor's system, takes place from 
without. The filtered liquor flows into the double bottom 
of the box, through a hole in the bottom of each sack. 
The advantages of this plan are apparent, for as no deposit 
can be made on the inside of the sacks, they will not 
require such frequent cleansing; and for the same reason 
* the filtration is more rapid, and the washing of the sacks 
accelerated." Of the apparatus for filtration through 
animal charcoal, Dumont's and Peyron's are most com- 
monly used. The first is well described by Dr. Mitchell : 
— " They consist of a range of boxes, varying in size and 
number with the daily quantity of sugar required. They 



VARIETIES OF CHARCOAL FILTERS. 109 

should contain an aggregate of charcoal at least one half 
the weight of the sugar they are intended to purify. Each 
filter consists of a box, whose cubic contents may vary 
from 300 to 600 lbs. weight. Three inches from the base 
is a false bottom, consisting of a metallic sheet, perforated 
like a sieve. Between it and the bottom are two orifices, 
one opening externally, the exit pipe for the filtered liquor ; 
and the other internally, being the end of a tube passing 
up through the box; for the air, which is contained in 
the interstices of the charcoal, is pressed down by the 
descending syrup, till it finds its way out by the tube : 
this latter terminates within the box, so that in case of 
puking, which sometimes happens through carelessness, 
the syrup is returned into the upper strainers. The air 
tube is sometimes on the outside of the vessel, in which 
case its end is carried inwards so as to hang over the syrup. 
Although the manipulation is easy, it may be as well to 
revert to a few points which unaccustomed boilermen 
might overlook. The false metallic bottom, pierced with 
holes, is covered with a fold of blanket, first wetted and 
slightly wrung out. It is so placed as to touch the sides 
of the filter all round. Upon this cloth is spread a layer of 
charcoal three inches deep. This is levelled with some degree 
of pressure, and successive layers are added till the whole 
attain a depth of from fifteen to eighteen inches, when it is 
covered with a cloth and metallic plate similar to the first. 
Instead of the metallic plate covering the whole surface, 
many planters use merely a piece of thin copper about five 



110 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



inches square, which is placed beneath the delivering cock, 
to prevent the washing away of the charcoal. In niters of 
the size described, the depth of syrup above the superior 
metallic plate, should be regulated at four inches. This has 
been decided by practice, as the most suitable depth, and 
can easily be regulated by a float-cock. A greater depth 
in these small vessels is found to create what are called 
false-channels, through which the syrup runs without filtra- 
tion. On leaving the filters the syrup is colourless. 
Whenever it retains a portion of colour, the charcoal is then 
considered as exhausted for the time, and must be renewed. 
The process of revivifying charcoal, by which its decoiourat- 
ing power is restored, consists simply in washing and 
burning in suitable vessels. * * * Eight filters such 
as have been described, and lined with zinc, may be pur- 
chased in Havre for £16 sterling. They are sufficient for 
a boiling house making from 3 to 4 tons per day. Two are 
recharged daily." Peyron's filters are thus described by 
Dr. Evans : — " These filters are composed of a series of 
cylindrical copper vessels, each having a double bottom as 
those of Dumont, and being hermetically closed at the top. 
They are closely packed with animal charcoal j and into 
the upper part of the first vessel is introduced a pipe for 
the admission of the syrup, which is made to descend from 
a sufficient height, or which is forced in by means of a 
pump, in such a manner, that from the pressure employed, 
it passes rapidly through the charcoal, and is received by 
the space between the two bottoms. Here it enters another 



VARIETIES OF CHARCOAL FILTERS. 



Ill 



pipe which conveys it to the upper part of the second filter, 
placed close by. Thus it continues through the whole 
series, until it is at last drawn off by a cock placed for the 
purpose in the last vessel. Each of the cylinders is 6 feet 
high, and three feet in diameter. Three of them would be 
required in a boiling-house making 3 hhds. a day. They 
act well for about five or six days. The charcoal is never 
removed from them, but when its powers require to be 
restored, boiling water is introduced for the purpose of 
washing away as much as possible the syrup remaining in 
the interstices. The sweet liquid which comes away is 
thrown into the evaporating vessels, w T hile the filters are 
put into some warm place, that fermentation may ensue. 
It is stated that this fermentation is completely terminated 
after 24 or 36 hours. In this way the organic matters 
which had neutralized the decolourating powers of the char- 
coal are destroyed, and to restore its properties, nothing 
more is required but an effective washing. This is best 
performed by the injection of high pressure steam for half- 
an-hour. When steam is not used in the boiling-house, hot 
water must be passed through in a continued stream until 
it comes away clear and limpid." Dr. Evans also describes 
the following simple method of making a filter, which can 
be easily constructed in any boiling-house : — " Take a clean 
rum puncheon, and at the distance of two or three inches 
from the bottom, make a support sufficient to retain a 
piece of basket-w r ork, corresponding in size to that part of 
the cask. Into the space between this and the bottom, 



112 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



affix a cock. Carefully fill the cask with charcoal, up to 
about two-thirds of its height, avoiding all inequalities of 
surface; and cover it with another and similar piece of 
basket-work. The filter is now prepared. Introduce the 
hot syrup gradually and cautiously, until the puncheon 
is entirely full. Let it remain in contact for two hours, 
and then turn the cock. The first portion of syrup that 
comes away wdll contain minute particles of charcoal. It 
should therefore be returned to the evaporating vessels. 
Four puncheons so arranged will be required for an 
ordinary boiling-house.^ 



CHAPTER VI. 



EVAPORATION OF THE DEFECATED JUICE NECESSITY OF RAPID 

EVAPORATION, AND DESCRIPTION OF APPROPRIATE EVAPORATING 

VESSELS — CONCENTRATION OF SYRUP AT A LOW TEMPERATURE 

VACUUM PAN — GADDESDEN'S PAN. 

Having in last chapter described the most effectual 
methods of defecation, the next part of the process is the 
conversion of the defecated juice into a syrup of the 
density of 27° or 30° Beaume, to which point the evapora- 
tion may be carried on under the usual atmospheric 
pressure, without injury to the sugar, provided that the 
operation be performed rapidly. The vessels usually 
employed for this purpose are not adapted for the success- 
ful accomplishment of the end in view, not being of a 
proper shape to ensure rapid evaporation of the water, and, 
moreover, causing a great waste of fuel, by the heat being 
to a considerable extent absorbed by the brickwork in 
which the coppers are built. The form of the vessels 
should be such, that a large surface can be exposed to the 
direct action of the fire, and, at the same time, to have the 

portion so exposed constantly covered with liquor. For 

i 



114 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



this purpose, the oblong flat-bottomed pans proposed by 
Dr. Evans, are best adapted, as they answer every purpose 
for which they are intended, and have been used with 
complete success in Guadaloupe. For a boiling-house, 
making 3 hhds. per day, two evaporating vessels, each 
about 14 feet in length, 7 feet in width, and 18 inches 
deep, would be required, both fixed over the same furnace, 
and furnished with discharge-cocks, one of the pans being 
sufficiently above the level of the other, to allow its con- 
tents to be drawn off into it by a cock, and thus obviate 
the necessity for baling. The upper edges should be leaded, 
and the masonry sloped backward, as in the case of the 
ordinary coppers, to prevent the liquor from boiling over. 
If the liquor has been perfectly defecated and filtered, no 
skimming will be necessary, and only one man is required 
to superintend the operation. In drawing off the syrup, 
when it has acquired the necessary density, care should be 
taken never to uncover the bottom of the pan, as some of 
the sugar in that case would be caramelised and dis- 
coloured. The pan should therefore never be wholly 
emptied, until the fire is withdrawn at the close of the 
day's work. A strong fire should be maintained during 
the process, and a current of air be made to pass over 
the liquid, to hasten the evaporation. This can in most 
instances be readily effected by a partition of boards 
being placed at a convenient height above the inner part 
of the wall which supports the pans, and extending 
upwards and backwards to the upper part of the opening 



NECESSITY OP RAPID EVAPORATION. 



115 



left in the back of the boiling-house for the escape of the 
steam. This is called a chimney of aspiration, and is an 
effective method of sending a current of air across the sur- 
face of the boiling liquid, sufficient to carry off the steam 
as fast as it appears, when, as is usual in the lesser Antilles, 
the evaporating vessels are erected on the lee-side of the 
building, through which a current of air generally passes. 
Whenever this method cannot be rendered effectual, it 
would be advantageous to produce an artificial current of 
air, by means of an insufflator, or any other available 
method, as this would hasten evaporation, and economize 
fuel to a great extent. For the process of evaporation, if 
the vessels are of the proper form, the direct heat of the 
furnace is as effective as that of steam, the only advantage 
which the latter possesses in any part of the operation, 
being the ease with which the degree of heat can be 
regulated. Many planters imagine, that syrup does not 
become caramelised if concentrated in a steam tavche ; but 
this is quite a chimera, the degree of heat and suscepti- 
bility of injury therefrom being in both cases alike. 

The advantage which steam possesses in this, as in every 
other part of the process, consists in the ease and readiness 
with which it can be managed, any degree of heat as may 
be found requisite being easily applied, and the instant 
cessation of its action at command, when no longer 
required. The most important object to be attained in 
the process of evaporation is rapidity ; and the vessels best 
adapted to accomplish this end are to be judiciously 



116 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



selected, whether the heat be applied to them by the 
furnace, or bv high pressure steam. As soon as the 
syrup has attained a density ranging from 27° to 32° 
Beaume, according as it is to be again filtered or not, at 
which latter density it will have reached a temperatm'e of 
about 220° F., it must be drawn off into a cistern or other 
convenient receiver, that the concentration may be finished 
at a lower temperature. A variety of plans have been 
tried to effect the rapid concentration of syrups at a 
low temperature, but the most perfect is by the vacuum 
pan, in which the concentration is finished, without injury, 
at a temperature of 160° to 180° F., and sometimes much 
lower. The high price of this apparatus has caused 
many contrivances to be made for effecting the object in a 
less costly manner. Some of these require a steam engine 
to work them, but in these the difference in cost not 
being very great, it would be far preferable to have the 
vacuum pan at once. Others are of a very simple and 
economical description \ and of these the most useful is the 
vessel known latterly as Gaddesden's pan, although I 
believe it had been used in the French Colonies both in 
the East and West Indies, for many years before Mr. 
Gaddesden brought it to the notice of the public. Dr. 
Evans describes it as follows : — " This gentleman's appara- 
tus consists of an iron or copper pan, having nearly the 
form of the half of a hollow cylinder, in which is placed a 
drum or wheel, adapted to the shape of the vessel, and 
formed of a number of metal rods so arranged that the 



gaddesden's pan. 



117 



evaporating surface given to the syrup is increased as 
much as possible. The wheel, half its circumference being 
immersed in the liquid, is kept constantly revolving, so 
that by exposing fresh portions of the heated syrup to the 
action of the atmosphere, at each succeeding revolution, 
the evaporation of the aqueous particles is rendered more 
rapid than it otherwise would be, while the temperature is 
at the same time in a corresponding degree reduced. The 
time required to take off a skip in a pan containing one 
ton of sugar, varies from two and a-half to four hours, and 
the temperature of the syrup varies from 150° to 180° F. 
From the principles upon which this method of concen- 
tration are based, it is evident that its successful working 
will depend on the degree of dryness of the atmosphere, and 
on the rapidity with which the air passes over the surface 
of the syrup. The apparatus should therefore always, 
when it is practicable, be placed at the windward side of 
the boiling-house ; at all events, it should be beyond the 
influence of the vapours which arise from the evaporating 
vessels." I have seen one of these pans tried in Antigua, 
but it was merely an experiment, and the pan was not in 
a convenient position. The temperature was easily kept 
down to 170° F. The bars of the drum wheel were made 
of wood instead of metal. Its uses have been successfully 
applied by a gentleman in Berbice. I have a description 
of its operation by the manager of the estate, which is 
particularly interesting, from the fact, that some trials of 
it in other places have failed, doubtless from want of atten- 



118 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



tion, or imperfect defecation of the liquor. The following 
is the description of the process on the estate alluded to in 
Berbice : — " The sugar is granulated at a temperature of 
175° F. The revolutions of the wheel do not exceed 2*5 
per minute at any time. Bapid revolutions produce froth, 
even in well cleared liquor, and it is very difficult and often 
impossible for even experienced sugar boilers to get rid of 
it ; it is therefore to be guarded against as much as possible. 
Having experienced sugar boilers, we do not strike with 
the saccharometer, but in several trials that I have made, 
I have found it to be from 43° to 45° Beaume. A degree 
or two less is of no consequence, but a degree or two more 
w r ould give too much heat to the syrup, and injure it. 
The old range of coppers evaporate in the first instance, 
and the liquor reaches a heat of about 224° F., which will 
give a density of about 32° Beaume. We have a cistern 
which contains about 600 gallons, as receiver for the 
syrup, from the coppers, from which it is let into another 
cistern below, containing from 60 to 100 gallons. From 
this it is let into the pan at charges of about 8 to 10 gallons 
each time, We use no charcoal. We get as large a 
crystal as the vacuum pan, and we attribute it to the low 
temperature at which it is concentrated. It is, I believe, 
generally admitted, that too much caloric is detrimental to 
the aggregation of crystals. When the syrup (sugar) 
comes from the pan, it is run into a heater, heated by 
steam, where it is allowed to remain about 20 minutes ; 
and when it is heated to 180° F., it is filled into cones 



gaddesden's pan. 



119 



which are set up in any convenient place of common 
temperature, where it remains 18 to 24 hours. It is then 
received into a room heated by steam to 100° F. ; the plugs 
are taken out of the bottom, and the melasses allowed to 
run off. In about twelve hours from this, a paste is made 
of clear water and sugar, which is put on the top of the 
cone, and then about a gallon of clear syrup is put through 
it, which carries down the impurities and melasses that are 
hanging about the crystals. Twelve hours after this, 
another gallon of syrup is run through ; it then remains 
for four or five days to drain, when it is fit for shipping. 
In reboiling melasses (if pure melasses) there is some 
difficulty experienced in getting a grain at the first starting. 
We therefore generally leave about one third of syrup with 
the melasses. If there be no syrup at hand, then two or 
three gallons of dry sugar are put into the pan, while it is 
firct working, which assists it very much. In all cases the 
melasses must be fresh, not more than three or four, or, 
at most, six days old. The syrup which is run through 
the cones to clear the sugar, mixing with the melasses in 
the same cistern, forms a very good article from which we 
generally get five lbs. of sugar per gallon." The pro- 
prietor of the estate on which the pan was used, said, that 
sugar manufactured in the manner described sold for .£25, 
when common sugar was selling at ,£14 per hhd. The 
only objection to this pan is, that it is apt to burn at the 
edge of the syrup, when the couch of the latter is shallow, 
but this has been successfully remedied by applying the 



120 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



same principle to a rectangular flat bottomed pan, the fire 
being allowed only to come in contact with the bottom. 
Dr. Mitchell describes one of this sort as follows : — " One 
of the most efficient articles of this kind I saw, was a large 
iron rectangular pan, made by Crossley. It cost £25 
sterling, including furnace mouth and bars. Its dimen- 
sions were 6| by 6 feet, 18 inches deep at the sides, by 
22 in the centre, the bottom being slightly concave, to 
facilitate the exit of the contents through a large cock. 
The drum, made of white pine for the sake of lightness, 
had every second bar bucket shaped, to take up a greater 
volume of syrup. Its dimensions were such, that the lower 
portion of the circumference, suspended in the syrup, 
dipped down to within two inches of the bottom of the pan. 
The wheel on the axletree had eighty teeth, and the 
driving pinion seven teeth; made two turns in fifty seconds, 
and receiving the syrup (marking 220° F.) when hot, 
turned out 180 gallons liquid sugar in seventy-five minutes, 
at a temperature of from 164° to 170° F. The coal used 
was 175 lbs. Time and fuel would be saved by using 
Hague^s, or any other insufflator, for driving across the 
pan, while in action, a current of dry air. The method is 
decidedly good, and when well managed, will prove a 
formidable rival to the vacuum pan. Its efficacy is more 
than equal, probably, to any work that may be required in 
this country (Trinidad). In working the pan, care must 
be taken to give the proper speed, and to charge only a 
few gallons at a time, and that only when the syrup has 



gaddesden's pan. 



121 



reached the granulating point. With the first charge, a 
handful of good dry sugar may be mixed, to expedite the 
crystallizing process, The sugar is then brought (there 
being no danger of burning) to indicate a density of 44° 
Beaume, and as the heat of the syrup may not even then 
be more than 160 F., the wheel must be stopped, and the 
temperature allowed to rise to 180° F. before striking. By 
the time the whole has run out, the sugar will have reached 
182° F. About two inches deep of syrup should always 
be left in the pan, to prevent caramelization, and facilitate 
the crystallization of the succeeding strike, that is, the pan 
should not be entirely emptied till the last strike be run 
off." In whatever description of vessel the concentration 
of the syrup is completed, the same rule must be observed, 
to keep the temperature below 180° F._, and then evaporate 
the water as quickly as possible, till it reach a density of 
42 to 45° Beaume, according to its purity. Practice is 
necessary to determine the exact moment for striking, 
which an experienced boiler can easily decide by appear- 
ances. When the strike is taken off, it should be main- 
tained for a short time at a temperature of 100° to 184° F., 
in order to induce a perfect crystallization. 



CHAPTER VII. 



CRYSTALLIZATION AND CURING OF SUGAR — RECAPITULATION 
AND REMARKS. 

The crystallization of sugar is a most important process 
in the manufacture, and care should be taken in the forma- 
tion of the curing house, to adapt it to the purpose for 
which it is required — the perfect crystallization and drain- 
age of the sugar. The size of this room should be in pro- 
portion to the quantity of sugar intended to be made. It 
should be dry, well lighted, and furnished with means of 
artificially increasing the temperature, either with steam or 
by a stove. The method adopted in a hot-house could 
readily be applied to this purpose, and the temperature 
should never be allowed to fall below 100° P., occasionally 
it might be raised a little more. As there is no doubt 
that the solar light and heat would facilitate the crys- 
tallizing and curing process, the room should be well 
lighted from above, with thick plates of glass, similar to 
those used in the roofs of sheds at railway stations, which 
are not very expensive, and are as strong and less liable to 
injury than tiles. 



CRYSTALLIZATION AND CURING OF SUGAR. 123 

If it is intended to syrup the sugar during drainage, 
it will be found most convenient to run it into moulds, 
of the usual conical form, made either of earthenware or 
metal, the latter being preferable, as less liable to breakage, 
occupying less room, and more easily handled. They must 
be ranged in rows over metallic gutters, kept scrupulously 
clean, which will convey the melasses (or rather syrup) to 
some convenient receptacle, which can be emptied and 
cleaned every day. It must be reboiled immediately, 
before any loss is sustained by the chemical changes which 
rapidly affect it; for it must always be kept in mind, 
that the melasses from sugar, manufactured as above des- 
cribed, contains only a small proportion of uncrystallizable 
matter, and is, in fact, the mother-water, from which the 
first crystallization has taken place, containing nearly two- 
thirds of its weight of crystallizable sugar, and only wants 
further concentration, at a low temperature, to give up the 
greater part of this sugar, at a subsequent crystallization. 
After the sugar is run into the moulds, which will be at 
about the temperature of 180° P., it must be slowly stirred 
once or twice, to disperse the crystals which are forming 
at the sides and surface equally through it, and to prevent 
a crust from gathering on the surface. "When it has cooled 
down to 130° F. it must not be farther disturbed. After 
it has been in the moulds from 18 to 24 hours, the plugs 
must be withdrawn, and the melasses allowed to drain off ; 
when the clear syrup can be passed through the sugar^ as 
before described in the method of using Gaddesden's pan. 



124 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



Dumas describes syruping as " the filtration through the 
sugar of a saturated syrup, at the ordinary temperature. 
As the syrup cannot dissolve the sugar, it chases before it 
the more highly coloured melasses, which darkens the 
superficies of the crystals, substitutes itself in the intersti- 
ces, and then drains out in its turn, leaving the sugar com- 
paratively bright. The conditions essential to the success 
of syruping are the following : 1 . That the syrup should 
be sufficiently saturated with crystallizable sugar, to dis- 
solve nothing in the filtration. 2. That its density be 
nearly the same, or only a little less, than what it is destined 
to replace, — too dense, it will percolate slowly; and too 
thin, it would slip past without carrying off the melasses 
adhering to the crystals." 

This method of syruping is the same as is practised by 
refiners in clearing their loaves. The top or apex of the 
cone remains moist and discoloured. This is removed by 
cutting off the discoloured portion, in a turning lathe, 
which preserves the original conical shape of the loaf. 

In boiling-houses, where it is not considered necessary 
to syrup the sugar, the most convenient vessels for crystal- 
lizing in are those which are successfully used in Guada- 
loupe, and are found sufficient for the requirements of 
estates making seven and eight hhds. per day. They are 
described as small zinc trays, about twenty-seven inches 
long, by twenty-six inches broad, and five inches deep, each 
holding about 60 lbs., and when full, can be easily handled 
by one man. They cost about 6s. 3d. each. When the 



CRYSTALLIZATION AND CURING OF SUGAR. 125 

sugar has become solid in these trays, they are placed 
diagonally over zinc-lined gutters, the lower angle resting 
on the gutter, and leaning against one another so as to 
occupy as little space as possible. In this position the 
melasses rapidly drains off ; and in a short time, if the tem- 
perature of the room has been kept up to the degree men- 
tioned before, the sugar becomes perfectly dry, except the 
lower angle, which is knocked off, and can be reboiled with 
the melasses, and is ready to be packed in any convenient 
form for shipment. No loss is sustained on the voyage, as 
there will be no drainage; and indeed if it has been rendered 
very dry before packing, it will weigh more when sold in 
this country than when it leaves the curing house. Sugar 
being hygrometic, will absorb any moisture to which it 
may be exposed from the humidity of the atmosphere, and 
thus notably increase its weight, without any deliquescence 
taking place. 

The melasses being reboiled from day to day as it drains 
from the sugar, will prevent the destruction of the large 
proportion of crystallizable sugar wdiich, when new, it con- 
tains ; and if it should not be thought necessary to syrup 
or blanch this secondary sugar, after crystallization it will 
afford an abundant supply of brown sugar for the refiners; 
and the uncrystallizable melasses from it can be all con- 
verted into rum, by being fermented with the refuse from 
the filters. 

The temperature of the room in which the crystallization 
of sugar from melasses takes place should be higher than 



126 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



is necessary for sugar of the first crystallization ; and it 
would be better to have a separate apartment for this pur- 
pose, which can be kept at a temperature of not less than 
110° F. and occasionally a good deal higher. There need 
not be so much care taken about the gutters for the pre- 
servation of the melasses from contamination, as, not being 
required for reboiling, it can be conveyed by leaden drains 
to the melasses cistern, to be afterwards used for distillation. 

Every kind of sugar should be rendered perfectly dry 
before it is packed for shipment, that no loss may be sus- 
tained by deliquescence on the voyage. Hogsheads are 
very unsuitable packages for sugar. Boxes containing each 
from two to five cwt. would be more convenient, and 
would neither be so costly nor unwieldy as the hhd.; while 
they would be more conveniently packed away in the store, 
and easily carted from the estates to the places of shipment. 

Having detailed a plain and convenient method of pro- 
curing the largest possible amount of sugar from the cane, 
I shall briefly recapitulate the most important points to be 
observed in the process, the details of which can be modified 
in many ways to suit particular circumstances. L To 
ensure the expression of the largest amount of juice from 
the cane by adequate machinery. 2. To raise the tem- 
perature of the juice to the boiling point as fast as it is 
expressed, and so prevent the destructive change which 
immediately commences in it when exposed to the usual 
temperature of the atmosphere. 3. That before the juice 
is submitted to evaporation, it should be freed by defecation 



RECAPITULATION AND REMARKS. 



127 



and filtration from the impurities contained in it, and be 
brought as nearly as possible to a pure solution of sugar 
and water. 4. That defecation, filtration, and evaporation 
to the density of from 28° to 32° Beaunie, follow each other 
with the greatest possible rapidity. 5. That after this point 
has been arrived at, the concentration should be completed 
at a temperature not exceeding 180° F., but if possible at 
160° F., which can be accomplished most certainly in vacuo; 
but with ease, by proper skill and attention, in many of the 
other pans invented for this purpose. 6. That crystalliza- 
tion should be promoted by keeping the sugar for some 
time at a temperature of 180° F., that being the tempera- 
ture most favourable for this operation ; and that the curing 
house, or rooms in which the sugar is crystallized and 
drained, should be dry, well lighted, and provided with the 
means of artificially raising the temperature of the air con- 
tained in them. 7. That the melasses or syrup from the 
first sugars should be reboiled every day as fast as collected, 
as the salts and other impurities contained in it speedily 
effect a chemical change, which results in the total loss of 
a large proportion of the crystallizable sugar contained in 
it, and which, by a farther concentration, is readily pro- 
cured. 8. That in all the above operations the most rigid 
cleanliness be observed ; that the mill, the gutters, and 
sieves be all constantly purified by repeated washings with 
boiling water ; that the defecating and evaporating vessels 
be always scoured perfectly bright ; and that the drains or 
gutters which convey the melasses from the first sugars, 



128 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



and the receivers in which it is collected, be emptied and 
washed every day. 

If this system be generally carried into effect, the amount 
of sugar from the same quantity of canes can be doubled, 
and every estate now making 100 tons of sugar, could ship 
200 tons of a better quality. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



DESCRIPTION OP THE METHOD OF SUGAR-MAKING. USUALLY PRACTISED 

IN THE WEST INDIES LOSSES SUSTAINED BY ITS OPERATION 

CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

I shall now proceed to detail the method of manufacture 
hitherto pursued in the West Indies, and which, with the 
exception of a very few individual cases, is at present 
universally practised. And in doing so, I shall indicate 
the imperfections of the system, and the losses sustained 
by its operation. In this description I shall confine myself 
to the most improved arrangements, where separate clari- 
fiers are used, although the old method of defecating in the 
same range of boilers in which the evaporation and concen- 
tration is effected, is still in some places commonly practised. 
The two systems are precisely the same, the only difference 
being in the mechanical arrangement. 

The juice is in most instances expressed in windmills, 
which by their rapid and irregular motion cause a vast loss 
by leaving a portion of the juice in the megass, as before 
pointed out. The liquor flows from the mill-bed (which is 



130 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



composed of two gutters or shallow trays lined with copper 
or lead) into a wooden cistern or receiver, lined with lead, 
and placed within the mill, first passing through a strainer 
composed of a wooden box, the bottom of which is perforated 
with gimlet holes. A child or aged person is usually 
employed to keep this strainer and the mill-trays from 
being choked by the fragments of megass &c. which fall 
down from the rollers with the juice. This is done by 
thrusting a long cane or stick along the trays under the 
rollers, and as this is seldom changed, it, as well as the box 
strainer, becomes saturated with acid liquor, and cannot 
fail to hasten the development of acidity, and viscous 
fermentation in the passing juice. The impurities thus 
collected are removed in pails, and carried to the cattle or 
horse troughs. The liquor accumulates in the receiver 
until the clarifiers are ready for it, and when the mill is 
working rapidly it often remains a long time there before 
room is made for it in the boiling-house. It is conveyed 
thence from the mill, either in a long open gutter usually 
lined with metal, or underground by a leaden pipe. From 
the cold juice being so long in contact with these conduits, 
they are more or less coated with glutinous ferment, which 
assists the atmospheric action by rapidly inducing viscous 
fermentation. I have seen from this cause alone a rapid 
deterioration in the quality of sugar during a single day's 
work, and the taint being once communicated is not got 
rid of, as a portion of the liquor is usually kept in the 
boiling-house all night to cool the coppers, and this mixes 



METHOD PRACTISED IN THE WEST INDIES. 131 

with the next day's liquor, and so on. The temperature of 
the atmosphere being usually about 80° F., which is that 
most favourable to the development of fermentation : the 
rapid deterioration of the juice, when exposed to its action, 
under such unfavourable circumstances, cannot be wondered 
at ; and at this stage the first great evil is effected which 
renders the subsequent treatment much more difficult, and 
causes a certain loss of saccharine matter : creating in its 
place a substance which continues to act injuriously upon 
the remainder during the whole of the subsequent process. 

After running into the clarifler, racking copper or sim- 
merer, as it is variously designated, the temperature of the 
liquor is raised to about 140°, and it is then tempered; 
that is, milk of lime is added in sufficient quantity to cause 
a coagulation of the impurities contained in it. The 
sufficiency of lime required for this purpose is noted by 
filling a glass with the tempered liquor, and observing the 
separation of the flaky feculencies which are to be seen 
floating in the clear liquid. The separation of the coagulse 
is made more or less perfect according to the judgment of 
the operator, as some kinds of cane juice will not bear a 
sufficient quantity of lime to effect this completely without 
discolouring the sugar. After a sufficient quantity of lime 
has been added to it, the liquor is smartly stirred with a 
ladle or other suitable instrument, and the temperature is 
raised until a thick scum gathers on the surface, on the 
cracking or bursting of which, as the liquid approaches the 
point of ebullition, the fire is withdrawn, and it is left for a 



132 



MANUFACTURE OP SUGAR. 



short time to repose; after which the clarified liquor is 
drawn off by a cock, and runs into the coppers, leaving the 
scum in the clarifier, which is then ready to be refilled from 
the mill receiver. After having been twice filled and 
emptied, the mud is cleared out before it is again filled. 
The clarified liquor as it rims into the coppers is not 
perfectly transparent, but has a cloudy appearance, little 
particles are observed floating in it, and it continues on 
boiling to throw up a further quantity of scum. 

Upon the accuracy of tempering depends the success of 
the whole operation. If not sufficiently tempered the sugar 
refuses to crystallize, or forms a doughy, moist sugar, with 
a small grain, and if over tempered the liquor assumes a 
green colour, (from the particles of chlorophylle being 
dissolved by excess of lime,) and becomes red as it 
approaches concentration, giving a dark sugar with much 
melasses, and which has an unpleasant smell when in the 
hogshead. In all cases, a portion of the lime forms 
compounds with the sugar and the albumen, and the 
liquor, in consequence, loses some of its sugar in the scum 
thrown up during evaporation • a further portion of the 
sugar is rendered uncrystallizable, and adds to the quantity 
of melasses, which, in turn, is rendered unfit for reboiling 
into good sugar. The compound which the lime forms 
with the albumen produces a gummy liquid, which remains 
in the liquor, and when it is concentrated to syrup forms 
coagulse, which renders it cloudy and opaque, and a portion 
of which remains in the sugar after curing. It is also 



METHOD PRACTISED IX THE WEST INDIES. 



133 



productive of injury of another kind, for as it begins to 
coagulate in the syrup, (at the heat of about 218° or 220° 
F.,) it sinks and adheres to the sides of the tayche, forming 
a crust, which raises the temperature of the boiling liquid, 
and induces caramelization, at the same time depriving the 
sugar of a portion of its carbon, (which is said to have the 
effect of rendering the grain of the sugar smaller.) The 
lime used in tempering is. generally burned with wood, or 
under the coppers in contact with the ashes, and therefore 
contains carbonate of potash. Caustic potash is by this 
means generated in the liquor tempered with it, and 
deliquescent compounds are formed with portions of the 
sugar ; the lime is also often slaked with liquor from the 
clarifler, thus forming a saccharate of lime to temper with 
in the first instance. Some persons add the lime to the 
liquor while cold, and this method is advocated by some 
planters as superior to hot tempering, upon what grounds 
I am ignorant. 

The processes of evaporation and concentration take place 
in a range of copper boilers, placed over the same fire, the 
heat from which is to a great extent absorbed by the mass 
of brickwork which the peculiarity of their form renders 
necessary. They are usually five or six in number, the 
smallest of the range or tayche being immediately over the 
furnace,, the flame from which afterwards acts upon the 
others in passing to the flue. The size of the coppers is 
progressively increased as they recede, the last being the 
largest, and it is often capable of containing nearly as much 



134 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



as the clarifier. The clarified liquor runs first into this 
copper, and as evaporation proceeds, it is ladled into the 
others progressively until it arrives at the tayche where the 
concentration is completed. The liquor being drawn into 
these vessels after defecation, the fire is maintained as 
briskly as possible, and as in boiling the liquor continues 
to throw up much scum from its imperfect defecation, a 
person is stationed at each copper to remove, with a 
skimmer, the scum as it rises, and sometimes by brushing 
back the froth from one vessel to another, until it accumu- 
lates in the last, when it is removed. I cannot better 
exemplify this laborious operation than by quoting the 
words of E. Packer, Esq. in a communication to one of the 
agricultural societies of Barbadoes : — " Our old planters 
seemed fully alive to the necessity of removing this sub- 
stance, as it rose in scum on the surface of the liquor in 
the tayches ; and one of the points in which they were most 
rigid with their slaves was the scumming of the liquor. It 
is painful to recur to the means by which the boilers were 
made to accomplish this laborious process, but every one 
must remember that the liquor was not considered to have 
been perfectly cleaned until every boiler had his shirt 
sticking to his back with the perspiration from his body. 
Such means are fortunately not now at our disposal ; but 
it seems to me that we have not looked to the necessity 
which still remains for thus cleansing the liquor, and I 
believe that if there is one cause operating more than 
another in producing that bad name which some of the 



METHOD PRACTISED 01 TIIE WEST INDIES. 135 

brokers in the mother country give to our sugar, it is the 
fact that our liquor is not properly cleansed/" 

The syrup is concentrated in the tayche, and the strike 
or skip is taken off at a temperature of from 234° to 238° 
F. In most cases this is effected by ladling it out of the 
tayche into a gutter which conveys it to the coolers. The 
operation of striking lasts two or three minutes, according 
to the size of the tayche. . The last portion of the strike 
being necessarily most highly concentrated, and at the 
same time exposed to the most elevated temperature, not 
only receives much injury, but leaves a portion adhering to 
the tayche in the form of caramel, which increases the 
colour of, and otherwise injures the succeeding strike. In 
some cases a dipper is used, which is a copper vessel with 
a valve in the bottom, made to fit the inside of the tayche, 
into which it is lowered by a crane or other contrivance, 
and thus the whole of the sugar is at once removed. A 
small quantity is, under any circumstances, left adhering to 
the sides of the tayche, and is caramelized before it can be 
refilled with liquor. It is evident that the smaller the 
tayche, the more rapidly will its contents be concentrated, 
and the shorter will be the exposure of the syrup to the 
high temperature which is so productive of injury, and it 
has been found in practice, that the smaller the tayche, 
other things being equal, the better is the quality of the 
sugar. Some planters who remarked the injury done to 
sugar by the excessive heat generated by high boiling, 
endeavoured to remedy the evil by striking then sugar very 



136 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



low, which certainly produced a superior quality of sugar, 
but at the expense of quantity ; for the melasses not being 
reboiled, the portion of sugar held in solution by excess 
of water was lost, and the method was thus found to be 
unprofitable. 

The conversion of clarified liquor into sugar, is simply 
effected by evaporation, and the successful issue of the 
operation depends upon the rapidity of its execution and 
the degree of purity the liquor has been brought to. It is 
evident from the fact, that sugar is soluble in certain 
proportions in water; that the farther the water can be 
evaporated without caramelization, the larger will be the 
amount of crystallized sugar procured from the strike; 
(provided the inspissation be not carried so far as to prevent 
the motion of the crystalline molecules ;) but as this cannot 
be effected except at a low temperature, the system of 
concentration in the common tayche under the usual 
atmospheric pressure can never be successful. 

On taking off the strike of sugar, (the time for which is 
determined by a granular appearance in the syrup which 
adheres to the back of a ladle on slowly withdrawing it 
from the tayche,) it is conveyed by wooden gutters to the 
coolers, which are large wooden trays about twelve or 
fourteen inches deep, and usually are capable of containing 
from half a hogshead to a hogshead of sugar. They are 
placed in that part of the boiling-house most exposed to 
the air, and at a convenient distance from the coppers. 
They are so disposed as to favour the passage of a current 



METHOD PRACTISED IN THE WEST INDIES. 137 

of air over the surface of the sugar contained in them, 
which being thrown into each cooler in alternate strikes, 
has in each instance become hard before the next strike is 
thrown upon it. If it should not granulate and harden 
rapidly, it is repeatedly stirred with a turn stick to favour 
and hasten this condition. This stirring produces a con- 
fused and irregular granulation, the sugar being prevented 
from crystallizing by the .agitation and rapid change of 
temperature. 

After remaining in the coolers till sufficiently solid, the 
sugar is dug up with cutters and shovels, and carried in 
pails to the cask, into which it is thrown without any 
regard to temperature, but as is most convenient for 
expediting the operations of the boiling-house. It is 
generally very warm when casked, and, in consequence, 
much sugar which would have crystallized on cooling is 
drained off with the melasses, and some of it is deposited 
on the stancheons and in the cisterns as it cools. 

The wooden stancheons upon which the hogsheads are 
placed to drain, are saturated with old melasses and acid 
ferment, and communicate the taint to all the fresh melasses 
which flows upon them, and the fermentation which is 
constantly going on in the cisterns speedily renders the 
melasses very unfit for profitably reboiling. The drainage 
of the sugar is also very imperfect, being much impeded 
by the irregularity of the crystallization, the injury caused 
by the rude manner of breaking it up in the coolers, and 
the rapid fall of temperature when exposed to the cold 



.138 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



atmosphere of the curing house, (which is usually the 
coldest and darkest place on the estate.) Much of the 
melasses is retained with the sugar, which has the effect of 
producing an unceasing delequescence, very much increased 
when exposed to the heat of the ship's hold. Veins and 
dark streaks and spots are also observable in the sugar, 
produced by the surfaces of the layers formed by the 
different strikes in the coolers. The melasses, as it leaves 
the hogshead, usually marks 37° Beaume, requiring only a 
farther evaporation of 20 per cent, of water to bring it 
again to the crystallizing point, but being exposed to the 
free action of the atmosphere over the extended surface of 
the stancheons and drains, it loses a portion of its water, 
and deposits crystals of sugar which form nuclei for farther 
depositions as fresh melasses passes over them, till the 
melasses becomes poor in sugar, fermentation goes on in 
the cistern, acidity commences, and the crystallizing power 
is lost. 

The above is a faithful description of the method at 
present almost universally practised in the West Indies, 
which I have merely detailed with a view of indicating the 
losses sustained by its operation, and of contrasting it with 
the more rational and profitable process before described ; 
and when it is apparent what vast losses are sustained by 
the planters individually, and what an enormous quantity 
of sugar is annually sacrificed after the canes have been 
brought to perfection, which, if preserved, would by its 



CONCLUDING- REMARKS. 



139 



cheapness and abundance render the country independent 
of supplies from foreign sources, surely steps will be taken 
to adopt universally such improvements as will prevent its 
continuance. 

The planters of slave-holding states are convinced that, 
even with their advantages of compulsory and continuous 
labour, they will not ultimately be able to maintain their 
position, unless they take advantage of every aid which 
science and skill can afford them, as is evinced by the large 
orders for machinery which our engineers and coppersmiths 
are executing for them. We read, that at the present 
moment an order is being executed for a single establish- 
ment in Cuba for machinery to the amount of <£l 7,000, 
and I have myself seen many large orders in progress of 
construction. Do not these facts speak volumes? Do 
they not show clearly that these men are looking forward 
to the time when wasteful and inefficient methods of 
manufacture will not advantage them, and that they are 
availing themselves of their temporary prosperity to make 
preparations for the struggle which they foresee, a struggle 
in which only skill and energy, directed by science, can be 
successful. 



The Publishers have added the following extract from 
the Glasffoiv Herald of October 11th, 1850, containing 
some important improvements in the apparatus for manu- 
facturing sugar ; — 

NEW SUGAR-MAKING MACHINE. 

On Friday, last week, we were invited by Messrs. Neilson, 
Hyde Park, to see a new sugar-making machine, just finished 
at their works. This machine, which is the patented invention 
of Mr. Edward Beanes, who is the representative of the Messrs. 
Jseilson at Havana, is to be erected on the estate of his Excel- 
lency the Count of Penalver, one of the most extensive sugar 
planters in the island of Cuba. 

In constructing this machine, much attention has been paid 
to the external appearance of the structure. In design, it is 
not unlike a miniature circular temple, such as are represented 
in pictures of Eastern life and manners, known as praying 
temples ; and one would be ready to conclude that Mr. Beanes, 
the inventor, had confined himself as much to the exterior 
graces and symmetrical proportions of his invention as to its 
utility for the purpose to which it is to be applied. A close 
examination of the apparatus soon shows that every portion of 
the machine has its separate and indispensable use, and that 
the highest utility has not been sacrificed for the attainment of 
architectural beauty. This machine is a good example of how 
available iron may be made for elegant and useful purposes. 

The apparatus is, as we have said, circular. The circle is 
twenty feet in diameter at the base. From the base spring six 
large fluted doric columns, these columns are sixteen feet in 



2 



height. Round the top of the columns there runs a cornice or 
entablature. Within the outer columns there are four other 
columns, the same in design as the outer ones, which support 
the pan or boiler. The boiler rises to a height of two and a 
half feet above the entablature, making the whole structure 
eighteen and a half feet in height. The boiler, with its cover, 
makes the cupola-like top to the erection, preserving and com- 
pleting the likeness to an eastern temple, which we have 
already mentioned. The operator stands on a platform, which 
is railed in round the top and between the outer columns, where 
he has the entire machinery immediately under his eye. What 
we have said will give some idea of the form of Mr. B canes' 
invention. We will now, as briefly, attempt a description of 
the mechanical uses of the various portions of the machine, but 
which, from the want of diagrams, must necessarily be only 
partially intelligible. And, first, we may mention that one 
great drawback in Cuba, is the want of a sufficient supply of 
water. Mr. Beanes turned his attention to provide against 
this want, and the result is the machine in question. So scarce 
is water throughout the island, that as Mr. Beanes informed 
us, in some places, there is not as much as would suffice to 
work a steam engine. This new apparatus, by its own action, 
generates as much water as is necessary for the process of 
sugar-making. A large portion of the erection is made avail- 
able for the one grand purpose, namely, the condensation and 
economy of the precious element. Suppose, then, that the cane 
juice is put into the vacuum pan or boiler, the vapour which is 
thrown off by evaporation is conducted by four copper tubes to 
the entablature, which is tubular, and thence through an im- 
mense series of tubes which are contained in the six outer 
columns. It will at once be evident that the steam from the 
vacuum pan is being thus reduced in temperature and con- 
densed. The condensation is further aided by a supply of cold 
air which is impelled by a steam engine, of peculiar construc- 
tion, through various parts of the machine. The air is cooled 



3 



by being drawn from a deep pit beneath the basement of the 
apparatus. In its course the vapour is exposed to a surface of 
2200 square feet of surface, upon which the injection water, 
brought to a low temperature by being passed in a shower of 
minute drops through a current of air, is kept constantly play- 
ing. We mentioned the four interior columns which support 
the vacuum pan ; two of these are used as overflow pipes. One 
peculiarity in the arrangements of this machine consists in a 
particular construction of valves and receivers, by w^hich all 
danger of interrupting the process of evaporation by overboiling 
is anticipated and provided against. The manner, also, of 
exposing the steam-heating surface within the boiler is novel, 
and will be more effectual than the usual method, in so far that 
a greater amount of evaporating surface is obtained, and at a 
much lower degree of heat. The vacuum is produced by three 
pumps with metallic piston-valves, connected with a wrought- 
iron three-throw-crank driven by a steam-engine of a very 
beautiful construction, which is peculiarly arranged for the 
purpose. The vacuum pan, with its pumps, connections, &c, 
is perhaps the most complete piece of mechanism which has yet 
been turned out of any establishment for a similar purpose, and 
is finished in a most elegant and tradesman-like manner in all 
its parts. Besides the apparatus we have described, two other 
steam-engines were in full operation at the same time. These 
were to be used for working the mills for crushing the sugar 
canes. The cane-mill, attached to one of the engines, is a most 
gigantic and ponderous piece of macbinery. It is composed of 
three enormous rollers, which are worked by wheels, and must 
have an enormous crushing power. This will be evident when 
we state that the mill, without its gearing, weighs no less than 
forty tons. This, we believe, is the heaviest and largest 
machine which has ever yet been made for crushing canes. 
We cannot conclude our necessarily imperfect notice of these 
interesting machines without a word of commendation to the 
excellence, strength, and elegance of the workmanship, which 



4 



reflects the highest credit on the taste and ingenuity of the 
Messrs. Neilson. If not already on board, they will be imme- 
diately shipped for Cuba, whither Mr. Beanes, the ingenious 
inventor, will accompany them to superintend their erection. 
We have no doubt of the value and success of the invention, 
from the circumstance, that Mr. Beanes, besides being a prac- 
tical engineer, has, from a twelve years' residence in Cuba, 
made himself fully acquainted with all the details of sugar- 
making. 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




0000 c 1313 c m 



